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SAKLLY WOOD THE RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HANNAH MORE. 



IT E V "YORK: 
IPTTBILISHEID IBlf l^ff o W » HI) O UII) 



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NEW MELIOIP. 



HANNAH MORE; 



JjWi in Jjitll aiiii (Cnttag^, 



MRS. HELEN C. KNIGHT. 



9 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 

BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, CITY HALL SQUARE, 
(opposite the city hall.) 



1851. 






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^^^^ 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, 

BY M . W. D O D D , 

In the Clerk's OtHcc of the Southern D^str'ct of New York. 



STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 
21G WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. 






G N T E iN T S, 



-• • •- 



CHAPTER I. 

VXOK 
EARLY LIFE, 9. 



CHAPTER 11. 

INTKODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY, .... 22 

CHAPTER III. 

A PEEP AT THE BLUES, 38 

CHAPTER IV. 

LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS, 48 

CHAPTER V. 

DEATH OF GARRICK ON THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS, . 66 

CHAPTER VI. 

CORRESPONDENCE, 77 

CHAPTER VII. 

' UWSLIP GREEN, 97 



IV CONTENTS, 

CHiVPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

FIRST FKUITS, 110 

CHAPTER IX. 

LABORS AMONG THE POOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS, . .124 

CHAPTER X. 

NEWTON IN SORROW MENDIP FEAST, .... 148 

CHAPTER XI. 

WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN, 163 

CHAPTER XII. 

TRIALS AND OPPOSITION, 183 

CHAPTER XIII. 

BARLEY WOOD, 211 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FALLING LEAVES, 224 

CHAPTER XV. 

GOLDEN HARVEST, 268 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PASSING AWAY, 286 



PREFACE. 



It has been written, " that the world's wealth 
is its original men ; by these and their works, it 
is a world and not a waste : the memory and rec- 
ord of what men it bore — this is the sum of its 
strength, its 'sacred property' forever, whereby 
it upholds itself and steers forward, better or 
worse, through the yet undiscovered deep of time. 

" Science itself, is it not, under one of its most 
interesting aspects. Biography ? Is it not the rec- 
ord of the ivork^ which an original man, still 
named by us or not named, was blessed by the 
heavens to do ?" 

May it not be also said, that the wealth of the 

Church is her godly men, her holy women, her 

ransomed little ones ? Are not the record and 

memory of their self-denial and suffering, their 

patient waiting, and cheerful courage, their faith 
1* 



Vi PREFACE. 

and love, her richest legacies and dearest treas- 
ures ? By these is the world an Eden and not 
a waste ; by these is the Church the true vine 
and not a withered branch ; a living epistle and 
not a dead letter ; the memory and record of 
what Christian men and luomen it bore — this is 
the sum of her strength, her " sacred property" 
forever. 

Christianity itself, is it not under one of its most 
interesting aspects, biography ? Is it not the rec- 
ord of the ivork^ which a God-man was blessed by 
the heavens to do ? Have not its doctrines been 
unfolded by the lives and labors of its eminent 
disciples ? 

In this view, what meaning is there in the 
christian life, whenever bearing " precious fruit," 
within the cottage or the hall, in the little child 
patiently bearing its weary load for Christ's sake, 
or in those holy and devout ones, whose faith sub- 
dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and hav- 
ing obtained a good report, have gone to receive 
their great recompense of reward. 

Herein is the beauty and excellency of the life 
of this eminent servant of God, Hannah More. 

Among the household memories, if not among 



PREFACE. 



Vll 



the nursery rhymes of many in middle life, she is 
less known to a great multitude of the young, who 
are just entering upon the duties, the responsibili- 
ties, and conflicts of the christian life, and for 
them is this sketch prepared. If there is a ten- 
dency in the Church, as some fear, to consult 
worldly advantages more than Christ's require- 
ments, to be content with a weak faith and feeble 
hopes, instead of the warm, large, generous love 
which inspired the apostles of old, and eminent 
saints of later time, to rest satisfied with only a 
name to live, instead of bringing forth fruits meet 
for repentance, let us turn bacfi and study the 
characters of those whose lips and lives most elo- 
quently expressed the holy gospel they professed. 
Let us inquire what doctrines they believed, what 
principles they adopted, what duties they dis- 
charged, what labors they undertook, what amuse- 
ments they forsook ; in a word, let us seek to find 
out their apprehension of Bible truth, and how 
also the Bible shaped their views, moulded their 
characters, and fitted them for usefulness. Han- 
nah More presents one of the most complete mod- 
els of christian character ; her life is a beautiful 
development of that healthy, vigorous, life-giving, 



Vlll PREFACE. 

and heart-warming piety, which springs from the 
distinguishing doctrines of the Bible, cordially be- 
lieved and faithfully acted upon. Let every Amer- 
ican woman study her biography. It is a legacy 
left for our benefit ; a portrait for our contem- 
plation; an example to imitate; a token for en- 
couragement and hope ; an earnest of that ful- 
ness in Christ Jesus, " if we do show the same 
diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the 
end, that we be not slothful, but followers of them 
who through faith and patience inherit the prom- 



CHAPTER I. 

Let us visit the retired hamlet of Fishponds ; it is in the 
parish of Stapleton, four miles from Bristol, and possesses 
all the quiet and homely comfort of rural life in England. 
Among the humble homes of the hamlet, stands that of 
the Dominie, IMr. Jacob More, a man of piety and learning, 
who, though bred to larger expectations and an ampler in- 
heritancG) is the faithful and contented master of the parish 
school, the happy husband of his excellent Mary, the 
proud father of five little girls, and the thankful proprietor 
of valuable stock in domestic peace and enjoyment. He is 
a devoted member of the English Church, and a loyal sub- 
ject of good Iving George. The over-cast fortunes of his 
early days, and the mansion and estates of Wenhaston 
wrested from him in a suit at law, are well-nigh forgotten 
amid the manifold cares and busy interests of family rear- 
ing. Besides leading a flock of village urchins to nibble in 



10 HANNAH MOKE. 

the green pastures of knowledge, his five httle girls follow 
the same friendly crook, and in their training, he beholds 
the buds and blossoms, as he hopes to realize the fruit, of 
his professional skill and parental fidelity. 

With more enlaro;ed views of female education than 
were common an hundred years ago, when external ac- 
complishments were principally aimed at, good Mr. More, 
though not without a certain horror for a learned lady, 
determined to strengthen the minds of his daughters by a 
thorough course of study, and to enlarge their range of 
thought by well-selected reading : his object was to fit 
them for usefulness, in whatever sphere the Providence of 
God might direct their steps. 

The home influences which surrounded this band of 
sisters were the purest and the best: not harassed by 
poverty, or stricken by luxury, but surrounded by the 
steady, yet gentle, pressure of ever doing^ they were early 
taught the wonderful power of the " diligent hand ;" away 
from the fevered excitements, and fashionable trickery of 
city life, they only knew life through the simple and frugal 
habits of their parents, enriched and beautified by the clear 
sense and devout spirit of their mother, and by the classic 
tastes and well-stored mind of their father. There also, 
was the English culture, which every English child sucks 



E ARL Y D A YS. H 

as from its mother's milk, veneration for the time-worn and 
time-honored institutions of his fathers ; the warm glow 
of loyal affection clustering and centering around a royal 
household, the obedient heart doing homage to the lofty 
prerogatives of priestly power, joy and pride over his 
English soil dotted all over with monuments of historic 
truth and great men's doings. Those elements which 
shape the national character, and in a greater or less 
degree mark and strengthen the individual influence, are 
perhaps modified since an hundred years ago, although 
they must ever exercise a strong and decided influence 
over every true-born English child. 

As the sisters passed from infancy to childhood, from 
childhood to maidenhood, the daily discipline of reading 
and grammar, of Latin and mathematics, was diversified 
and relieved by household labors and rural exercises. 

To the studies, which fell within Mr. More's own prov- 
ince, he wished to add that of the French language, and 
for this purpose, when Mary, the eldest, was twelve, she 
went three times a week to Bristol to receive lessons from 
the most approved instructors, in order to fit her to be- 
come the teacher of her younger sisters : through hot 
and cold, through wet and dry, with a resolution which 
ever afterward was one of the most prominent traits in her 



12 HANNAH MORE. 

character, Mary More trod unweariedly her solitary four 
miles' walk, studying with unflinching earnestness until 
she became a thorough master of the French, and spoke 
it with the fluency and elegance of a native. 

While the eldest daughter was thus toiling up the hill 
of knowledge, Elizabeth, next her in age, was busy by her 
mother's side, plying the needle, turning the wheel, or 
adding to family comfort through the thousand unseen 
channels of simple duties and little kindnesses. 

Then came Sarah, brimful of wit and humor, whose 
quaint sayings and lively answers were the delight of her 
companions, and often provoked a smile from the Dom- 
inie in his gravest and most thoughtful moods. 

Having lost a valuable portion of his library on his 
mournful pilgrimage from the paternal estate, Mr. More 
was constrained to teach history in the more animated 
style of conversation and story ; and his own interest in 
Grecian sages and Roman heroes was revived and quick- 
ened by the bright eyes and earnest glance of his fourth 
little one, ever first on her father's knee, listening with a 
glowing face to the wonderful recitals which fell from his 
lips. While still regarded as " the little one," and lono- 
before she was thought worthy of the paternal teaching, 
the delighted parents were surprised to find her reading 



EARLY DAYS. 13 

with intelligencG and fluency, btiving slipj^ed through the 
long apprenticeship of syllables and spelling, they hardly 
knew when, or how. 

The little one had no mind to wait the slow notice of 
her elders. She learned while they spake one to another, 
as it were, from the droppings which fell unawares upon 
her eager and panting spii'it ; a scrap of paper and an 
old pen are among her baby-house treasures ; in rude 
characters she attempts to put down the thoughts which 
spring up abundantly within her little bosom. Before 
her fathers door was the high road which leadeth to the 
great city, Bristol, with its manifold and far-off wonders ; 
the child, perhaps^ often sits and ponders whence it 
comes and whither it goes, eagerly watching the heavy- 
carts, or the pillion equestrians as they occasionally pass 
and repass, — each suggesting a new fancy, or pleasing won- 
der ; as she ponders, she writes dainty thoughts. Behold, 
the little child of four years is a rhymer — perhaps a 
[)oet ! — 

" This is the road to a great city 
Which is more populous than witty," 

is all that survives of this, her earliest essay, through the 
long lapse of years. Beside the poem, her fourth year 
has other marvels for expectant and loving kindred. The 



14 n A N N A H M O R E. 

village curate awards her sixpence for catechism lessons 
well learned and perfectly recited : — her first earned six- 
pence, her own sixpence — how rich is the little one ! — 
rich in the curate's approval and fatherly hopes ! rich in 
promise ! Such were the first laurels of the Dominie's 
fourth^ Hannah More, born in the year 1745. 

Her father, delighted with the dawning abilities of the 
child, soon began to teach her • his favorite Latin ; 
amazed at her rapid progress, he abandoned the work, 
lest Hannah should grow up a pedant ; this, however, 
he willingly resumed, not long after, at the entreaty of the 
child, seconded by the persuasions of the mother. The 
little Hannah was henceforth permitted to read, study and 
write, as her fancy led; her scribblings were of divers 
sorts and kinds ; poems, essays, and stories issued from 
her pen, and were stored away to be read or recited to 
her sisters, whose encouragement and interest at that 
early age, fostered and improved her taste. 

I'atty was the youngest of the (lock, loving and joy- 
ous, never jealous of the opening powers of her sister, 
for whom her admiration was only equalled by her warm 
sisterly love. 

As the family grew up, its increasing wants outran its 
straitened means, when the elder sisters proposed to 



EARLY DAYS. 15 

follow the profession of their father, and try the experi- 
ment of a new boarding-school in the neighboring city. 

Warm friends, who knew their worth, seconded the 
plan, and offered their patronage and influence : among 
their patrons was Mrs. Gwatkin, a lady of worth and high 
position, who then little dreamed that through the 
friendly aid she rendered to this band of teachers, her 
own name should be handed to generations yet to come. 
The family circle was now broken up. Mary, Ehzabeth, 
and Sarah left the paternal roof to try their fortunes in 
the great world : the school was opened ; scholars flocked 
to this fold, and the first year confirmed their hopes and 
encouraged farther efforts. With what solicitude and 
pride must the father have watched their progress in the 
same ordeal of daily struggles, in which he had already 
become a veteran ; and when at last at the age of twelve 
he suffered the little Hannah to escape from his nest, and 
become a pupil in the now prosperous- school, he gave 
the strongest proof which a father could give, of confi- 
dence in, and respect for the abilities of his daughters for 
their new and responsible situation. 

What a world of interest opened upon the gifted girl 
in the wider sphere of study and observation, in the di- 
versity of character, in the new friendships and associa- 



16 H A N N A H M R E. 

tions, in the competitions and struggles of school life in 
the city. The green banks, the shady groves and soft 
quiet of Stapleton, gave place to the stirring and endless 
passing to and fro of people, of scenes, of labors : what 
a quickening of thought ! wliat incitements and stimulas ! 
She was not among strangers who, caring not, crowded 
her mind, or cramped her heart ; she was not a stray 
lamb in a strange fold, but affection still folded her in 
its bosom, defending her from harmful flatteries, and re- 
joicing in her opening and maturing j^owers. Her pro- 
gress was brilliant and rapid, reflecting honor upon the 
school, and attracting the attention of some of the most 
cultivated minds in the city. Sir James Stonehouse, a 
friend and patron of her sisters, whose writings for the 
spiritual benefit of the sick have been extensively circulated 
in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, be- 
came deeply interested in her welfare ; he took every 
u})portunity of cultivating the young girl's friendship, and 
while yet a pupil, predicted her distinguished career. 

Beside Sir James, Dr. Tucker, afterwards Dean of 
Gloucestershire, Mr. Peach, a man of extensive reading 
and fine taste, and Ferguson, the astronomer, then lee 
turing at Bristol, sought her society with delight, and 
were reckoned among her warmest friends. So great, 



E A R L Y D A Y S. l7 

at that early period, were the charms of her conversation, 
that Dr. Woodward, her physician, a man of some emi- 
nence in his time, is said one day altogether to have 
forgotten she was his patient, while she regaled his ear 
with strains it seemed a privilege to hear, until half way 
down stairs, he suddenly recollected himself, exclaiming, 
" Bless me ! I forgot to ask the girl how she was 1" 
while he hastened back to her chamber to make the 
necessary inquiries. 

Hannah's literary tastes showed themselves in her pas- 
times, as well as in her graver pursuits, for we learn that 
a favorite play at one time among herself and companions, 
was the gathering of little parties, where the talk should 
be wholly sustained in the language of Shakspeare, and 
" it was surprising," she said in after days, " how well 
the conversation was kept up." It must be remembered 
that children's literature had then no existence ; the 
Parent's Assistant, Sanford and Merton, Harry and Lucy, 
books which a few years afterward delighted and quick- 
ened the minds of the young, had not then appeared, nor 
bad Mrs.' Barbauld, or Mrs. Trimmer, yet employed their 
pens in the juvenile department, at once so unambitious 
and yet so useful and important. Children read then — if 

they read at all — books which their elders read and loved, 
2* 



18 HANNAHMORE. 

and Shakspeare, it seems, must have been among the 
choice reading of young Hannah More : this unwonted 
appreciation of, and intimate acquaintance with his writ- 
ings, was the means of imparting to one of her earhest 
joui'neys a zest and enjoyment which few, at her early 
age, could have been supposed to feel. 

In company with some friends, she visited Stratford- 
upon-the-Avon, the birth-place of the immortal and 
world-renowned poet, and brought away a branch of the 
raulberry-tree growing in his garden, said to have been 
planted by his own hand ; this she had wrought into 
sugar-tongs and presented to Mrs. Gwatkin, with the 
verse — 

" I kissed tlie sacred slirine where Shakspeare lay, 
And bore this relic of my bard away : 
Where shall I place it, Phoebus ? — wliere 'tis due, 
Apollo answered : and I send it — yo?t." 

At seventeen a small work issued from her pen, en- 
titled " The Search after Happiness," a pastoral drama, 
which, with an ever-grateful sense of Mrs. Gwatkin's kind- 
ness to her family, she dedicated to that lady. Acting 
plays was at that time one branch of boarding-school in- 
struction, and this was written to take the place of those, 



E A R L Y D A Y S. 19 

of which class there were not a few, not always inculcating 
the purest sentiments, or the most exalted character : how- 
ever well it may have answered its purpose, and however 
great its literary merits were then regarded by admiring 
and expectant friends, it can hardly now be considered 
prophetic of anything but the high moral aim which it 
was the tendency of her maturer efforts to inculcate and 
to enforce. 

Unexpected success had crowned the efforts of the 
sistei's : the faithful and judicious management of the 
home department, together with the superior course of 
instruction given in the school, gave it a deservedly high 
position in the community, and attracted pupils from the 
most distant parts of the kingdom. The sisters deter- 
mined now to enlarge their domain, and for this purpose 
they planned and built a large and commodious house 
in Park-street, where, notwithstanding their ampler ac- 
commodations, twice the number of applicants appeared 
than could possibly be admitted. 

Nor were they unmindful of the comfort, and increas- 
ing infirmities of their now only remaining parent. Mr. 
More, bereft of his family, was by their filial love re- 
moved to a pleasant house in the city, and provided 
with two female servants to attend him, where he passed 



20 H A N N A H M O R E. 

a green old age, in the enjoyment of his garden, his 
library, his friends, and, above all, the daily visits and 
delightful companionship of his five excellent daughters. 

After having completed her studies as pupil, Hannah 
retained her connection in the school as teacher. Be- 
loved and respected in no common degree, the younger 
sisters were often invited by their pupils to visit their 
homes during the vacation recesses. They were, at this 
time, on an intimate footing with the Misses Turner, two 
older members of the school, and were often invited to 
accompany them to Belmont, the residence of their cousin, 
Edward Turner, Esq., six miles from Bristol. The fine 
taste and cultivated mind of Hannah made a strong im- 
pression on the host, who delighted to consult her in his 
projected improvements, and followed her suggestions in 
many of the embellishments made at this time on his 
estate; — nor did she fail to find themes for her muse in 
the shady nooks and green winding ways of beautiful 
Belmont. On the summit of a hill reached by a steep 
and rugged path through the woods, in whose deep se- 
clusion we may suppose she sometimes loved to linger, 
there remained, long after her death, a board over-written 
with a httle poem, to inspire the weary pilgrim with 
hope and resolution through his tedious and rugged 



EAKLYDAYS. 21 

way, suggested by the nature of the scenery around her. 
In erecting a monument to a departed friend, Mr. Turner 
was indebted to his guest for the inscription it bears, 
and which afterward appeared in her works under the 
title " Inscription on a Cenotaph," and it is no matter 
of surprise, that one so fitted to sympathize with him in 
his tastes and pursuits, should have engaged his affection, 
and, for a time, at least, have wooed him from his love 
of single life. Though twice her age, for Hannah was 
now nearly twenty-two, he sought her hand ; the suit 
was favorably regarded, and the bridal preliminaries were 
completed, when the current of true love, not always 
smoothly flowing, drifted them apart, and sundered the 
tie ; nor does it appear that Hannah ever afterwards 
freighted lier bark on the same dangerous element. 

The gentleman never ceased to regard her with respect 
and interest, and his first toast every day, whether alone, 
or in society, ever was " Hannah More." In after year?., 
their long-suspended intercourse was renewed, and con- 
tinued with the utmost cordiality until his death, when 
he bequeathed to her a thousand pounds. There are no 
tearful regrets to bestow over this severed tie, for Mrs. 
Turner might have deprived the world of the brilliant 
career and valuable services of Miss Hannah More. She 



22 HANNAH MORE. 

afterwards received an offer of marriage from Dr. Lang- 
horne, vicar of Blagdon, author of several works, a man 
of lively wit and cultivated intellect, with whom she be- 
came acquainted while in quest of health and strength on 
the coast of Somersetshire. Behold her on the beach, 
sometimes on a pillion behind her servant, sometimes ac- 
coutered for a walk in company with the Doctor, some- 
times surrounded by a group of admiring friends, drawn 
thither by the charms of her brilliant and animated con- 
versation. Though a rejected suitor, the Doctor main- 
tained a poetical and literary correspondence with the 
lady until his death, which took place in the prime of 
manhood, although not before his usefulness had become 
bhghted by irregularities and misfortune. 

Thus far have we caught passing glimpses of Hannah 
More in the dear seclusion of her birth-place, the busy 
retreat of her sisters' school, and the agreeable circle of 
Bristol society, where her simple manners, her good sense, 
and the unaffected friendliness of her heart, gave an 
added lustre to those brilliant powers and that ready wit, 
which, afterwards, made her a welcome and honored 
guest in the most elegant and refined circles of the me- 
tropolis. How much is there in her early life of which 
the few and scanty records that remain, fail to inform 



EARLYDAY6. 23 

US ! How many an earnest mother would rend the veil 
which conceals her childhood to learn the secret springs 
of that Christian nurture, which enabled her to pass 
unseduced and unscathed through the trying ordeal 
of folly, of fashion, and of fame which awaited her. 
The glitter and pomp of fashionable life never seems to 
have dimmed the clearness of her moral vision, or pre- 
vented her from making a rational estimate of its maxims, 
habits, and pursuits; there ever accompanied her an in- 
tegrity of moral consciousness, a hidden strength, which 
stronger than breast-plate or shield, defended her from the 
corrupting influence of flattery, and enabled her to main- 
tain that singleness and purity of character, and to foster 
those rehgious convictions which formed the beauty and 
excellence of her riper years. 



CHAPTER II. 

Siitrnkrtinn tn jCnnhii InriBtii, 

Brilliant minds centre around tliis period of English 
literature. The splendid diction of Burke had kindled a 
fresh glow around " The Sublime and Beautiful ;" the De- 
serted Village was surrounded by admiring groups : John- 
son fed and fattened the world of letters from the store- 
house of his strong and affluent mind ; Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds was in the zenith of his popularity; and Garrick, 
the enchanter of the Eno-lish, ruled the stao-e. 

London society was rife with genius, wit, and learning : 
the famous Blue Stocking Club was then in its glory, and 
its accomplished patrons figured in the most elegant and 
refined circles of that day. This gathering, which has 
unwittingly given a name of implied reproach to women 
of literary tastes and pursuits, was composed of persons 
distinguished for wit and talent, who met at each other's 
houses, without ceremony or supper, to enjoy the charm 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 25 

of each other's society, without the interloping aid of cards 
or dancing, as we learn from a little poem entitled the Bas 
Bleu, written by Hannah More a few years after — 

" Long vras society o'errun 
By Wliist, that desecrating Hun, 
Long did Quadrille despotic sit, 
That Yandal of colloquial wit. 
And conversation's setting light 
Lay deep obscured iu Gothic night; 
At length the mental shades decline; 
Colloquial wit begins to shine; 
Genius prevails, and conversation 
Emerges into reformation." 

An object befitting the cultivated minds of that day, when 

speech, we may suppose " to have been the golden harvest 

that followed the flowing of thought :" an object too which 

it might not be amiss to revive, if, in the feverish reading, 

and rapid flight of news, people can pause and think ; for, 

without thought, that healthy digestment of things worthy 

to be known, conversation must soon lose its freshness and 

originality, and degenerate into mere news-telling and 

literary gossip. 

Among the admired women of that circle ranks Mrs. 

Elizabeth Montagu, who acquired much celebrity as the 
3 



26 H A N N A H M R E. 

author of an "Essay on the Genius of Shakspeare," pub- 
hshed in 1769, of which Cowper says, "The learning, the 
good sense, the sound judgment, and the wit displayed in 
it, fully justify, not only my compliment, but all compli- 
ments, either that have already been paid to her talents, 
or shall be paid hereafter:" but while the Essay which 
made her conspicuous to her contemporaries has passed 
away, she became better known in this country by a 
volume of her delightful letters, which charmed the read- 
ing world fifty years ago. Beautiful in youth, and left in 
possession of an ample fortune at the death of her hus- 
band, she retained, until the latest period of life, a grace 
of person and manner, which made her splendid mansion 
at Berkeley Square a centre of the most polished society in 
the metropolis. By her side, behold Ehzabeth Carter, 
accounted one of the most learned ladies of her time, the 
long-loved and intimate companion of Mrs. Montagu. At 
twenty-nine, Dr. Johnson, whom no one would venture to 
call an indiscriminate admirer of the sex, in a fit of un- 
usual gallantry, composed a Greek epigram to her praise ; 
and she was almost the only lady, through long years of 
intercourse, whom he treated with uniform attention and 
civility. For the encouragement of the young, who are 
more ready to question their abilities than to exercise 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 27 

them, and for the benefit of teachers who are impatient 
of progress which they are not faithful enough to secure, 
let it be added, that Mr. Carter, in early days Elizabeth's 
instructor, became so wearied and disheartened by the 
dulness and apparent stupidity of his daughter, that he 
abandoned the task of teaching her, while she, with a 
resolution which nothing could quench, continued her 
studies until she became a thorough master of the learned 
languages. Dr. Johnson, in speaking of a celebrated Greek 
scholar, said he understood Greek better than anybody 
else, except Elizabeth Carter : the Bible, her choicest book, 
she was accustomed to read in Hebrew : the fishermen of 
Deal, her place of residence except during her long ab- 
sences at London, respectfully regarded her as the almanac 
maker, that being the highest conception they could form 
of the abilities and power of their distinguished towns- 
woman. Her biography may be found in some of our 
older libraries, together with " Mrs. Chapone's Letters to 
Young Ladies," a famous book in its day, upon which the 
dust of years has already gathered. No lady could afford 
to be without its wise counsel and judicious guidance : 
anxious and careful mothers gave it to their young daugh- 
ters ; and so popular was the aid which it rendered to 
parents, that it became the maternal ancestor of a long 



28 H A N N A II M O R E. 

line of " Letters to the Young," it being through no want 
of advisers or lack of advice, if the young of our genera- 
tion are not vastly wiser and better than their elders were. 
Here is Mrs. Chapone, one of the Blue Stocking coterie, 
with another, no less distinguished in her day, Hon. Fran- 
ces Boscawen, widow of Admiral Boscawen, the warm and 
appreciating friend of literary worth and rising genius. 
With her comes Mrs. Vesey, to whom, in pleasing remem- 
brance of the delightful gatherings so often enjoyed at her 
house. Miss More dedicated her Bas Bleu poem, 

"Vesey! of sense tlie judge and friend, 
Awhile my idle strains attend." 

BrilHant as these circles were, enriched by the learning 
of Johnson, the wit of Garrick, the taste of Keynolds, the 
elegance of Mrs. Montagu, and the moral worth of Eliza- 
beth Carter, they were yet to receive a delightful accession 
in the gifted woman, who, in company with her sister 
Sarah, left Bristol on a visit to London, in the winter of 
IVZS, and began, as she says, for the first time, to " know 
something of the hurry, bustle, dissipation, and nonsen- 
sical flutter of town life." 

Her reputation had already preceded her, and Hannah 
More is soon a guest at the table of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 29 

whose handsome estabhshment in Leicester-fields was the 
resort of the gay and learned. Hosts of friends sur- 
rounded his hospitable board, drawn thither quite as much 
by the genial warmth of his spirit as by the world-wide 
reputation of his genius, and the monuments of his in- 
dustry and art. His sister Frances presided over his 
house, with whom Hannah was speedily on an intimate 
footing. Miss Reynolds, if we may credit a contemporary 
critic, seems not to have been a very skilful housewife, or 
to have served her brother's table with an especial refer- 
ence to order or arrangement, there often being a de- 
ficiency of knives, forks, plates, and glasses ; yet their 
friends long loved the memory of those social hours, 
which, after the sun had set that gave them warmth, no 
one ever attempted to revive or imitate. 

We next follow her to Hampton Court, the princely 
domain of Cardinal Woolsey, located in the midst of an 
extensive park of majestic trees, sixteen miles from Lon- 
don. Here were the chambers of royalty, with their 
superb pictures and ancient tapestry ; here the beauties 
of King WiUiam's court, looking beautiful still through 
the stiff and antit][ue drapery of elder times: here, too, 
the records of royal industry, tapestry wrought by Queen 
Mary's hands, when, surrounded by her maidens, " her 
3* 



30 HANNAHMORE. 

needle plied its busy task." Although this seat of his- 
torical interest and royal magnificence could not fail to 
interest, her youthful enthusiasm was quickened to a 
warmer glow by a visit to the " immortal shades" of 
Twickenham, the abode, both in life and death, of Pope, 
one of her favorite authors, and at the distance of only a 
pleasant walk from Hampton Court. 

The curious domain of the poet, at that time in pos- 
session of Sir William Stanhope, had suffered from 
outward changes ; the rooms had been stripped of every 
memento of its former occupant : his bust, statue, pictures, 
and library, many of them gifts of distinguished men, 
and tributes to his genius, had been scattered far and 
wide among his friends, but the house remained, with its 
curiously wrought arcades, columns, and porticos. The 
garden, shrubbery, and grotto were also there, where Ad- 
dison, Swift, Parnel, and Bolingbroke read, wrought, wrote 
and raked, far from the busy and distracting scenes of 
London life ; nor could she leave without plucking a sprig 
of laurel from the garden, and stealing two stones from 
the grotto, in memory of the great departed : neither did 
she leave Twickenham, without visiting the hallowed tomb 
of her "beloved bard," who quietly rests in the village 
church, beneath a stone bearing the inscription, " One who 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 31 

would not be buried in Westminster Abbey," he, as Han- 
nah wittily suggested, probably preferring to be the first 
ghost in Twickenham than an inferior one at Westminster. 

On her return to Hampton, she visited the country 
house of David Garrick, beautifully situated on the 
Thames, and then undergoing some repairs. She wan- 
dered over his grounds, and stole into his temple, a quiet 
garden retreat, containing, among other things, a chair, 
curiously wrouarht from the tree which o-rew in Shaks- 
peare's garden. 

" I sat in it," wrote she to Mrs. Gwatkins, " but caught 
no inspiration. AVhat drew my attention most was a 
splendid statue of that great and original man, in an 
attitude strikingly pensive ; his hmbs strongly muscular, 
his countenance expressive of some vast conception, and 
his whole form seeming the bigger from some immense 
idea, with which you suppose his imagination pregnant. 
The statue cost £500." 

With a kindred spirit did she dwell upon the storied 
honors and fair renown of those, whose haunt was upon 
the lips of men, and whose dwelling was in their heart. 

The drama was then a favorite department of literature 
with Hannah More : her first article was dramatic, and she 
had already sketched some of the most grand and thrill- 



32 H A N N A H M O R E. 

ing scenes in Hebrew history, which afterward appeared 
in the form of the " Sacred Dramas." ]S^o wonder, then, 
that Garrick was at once an object of curiosity and deep 
interest ; and she longed to witness those remarkable gifts, 
fitted 

"To pierce, to cleave, to tear the heart, 
"Whatever names delight the ear, 
Othello, Richard, Hamlet bear." 

She first beheld him in the character of King Lear, 
and her graphic description of his powers, in a letter to 
a mutual friend, evincing a just appreciation, and a coirect 
criticism of the drama, inspired him at once with the 
strongest desire to see and know her. 

David Garrick was at that time master of the English 
stage: though somewhat past the prime of life, having 
nearly reached his sixtieth year, his frame still retained 
the flexibility and vigor of earlier days. "With genius 
and refinement, " the finest man in the world for sprightly 
conversation," as Johnson says, whose pupil he had been, 
and whose friendship he ever continued to enjoy, Garrick's 
house, adorned by Eva Maria, his beautiful and accom- 
plished wife, was a centre of attraction to the literary 
circles of that period. 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 33 

Of the versatility of his talent, some idea may be 
formed from the famous couplet of Goldsmith, 

"Our Garrick's a salad, for in him we can see 
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree." 

An introduction soon followed: the interview imparted 
mutual pleasure, and the foundations of a warm and cor- 
dial intimacy were laid, which lasted until his death. 
Garrick immediately introduced his new friend into the 
elegant circle over which Mi-s. Montagu presided : she 
soon became a frequent guest at Berkeley Square, and the 
intimate companion of many of the choice spirits of that 
day. 

But Hannah, with w^hetted appetite, longed to behold 
the wonder of the age, " Irene Johnson !" " Dictionary 
Johnson !" " Idler, Rambler Johnson !" nor did her wishes 
remain long ungratilied. Calling one day at Sir Joshua's, 
she learned he was within : her friends tried to moderate 
her eagerness, by telling her of the moody fits of the 
Doctor, in which he would be ^^uite as likely to turn his 
back, or think of Tom Thumb, as on another occasion, to 
give her a befitting welcome. How agreeably disap- 
pointed was she, on entering the room where he was, to 
find herself greeted with the utmost cordiality, by a verse 



34 HANNAH MORE. 

of her own poetry, while he arose to receive her, with 
Sir Joshua's maccaw jauntily perched on his arm: the 
maccaw, indeed, was a great favorite with the Doctor, 
whose fame has extended to our own times, by its appre- 
ciating estimate of young Northcote's w^ork. While a 
pupil at Sir Joshua's studio, he took a portrait of one of 
the servants, which being brought into the room where 
the bird happened to be, it mistook it for the original, 
against whom it harbored a grudge, and instantly flew 
to the canvass with the greatest fury; nor could it ever 
contemplate the picture without a similar exhibition of 
feehng. Hannah was most favorably impressed with the 
great conversationist; and not long afterwards, she and 
her sister Sarah paid him a visit at his own lodgings, in 
company with Miss Reynolds. On entering his little par- 
lor, they found it occupied by a pale, shrunken old lady, 
dressed in scarlet, her head surmounted by a black lace 
hood, with stiff projecting wings : she received them with 
a mild and engaging manner, and bade them be seated. 
Hannah promptly obeyed, by jumping into a great arm- 
chair, which she naturally concluded could be nobody's 
accustomed seat but the Doctor's, and playfully invoking 
the inspiration of his genius. 

Their hostess was Miss Anna Williams, the blind poet- 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 35 

ess, who for forty years was sheltered beneath the Doctor's 
roof. The daughter of an early friend, on coming up to 
London, befoi'e his wife's death, for the purpose of having 
an operation performed upon her eyes, she was invited to 
become a guest at their house during Mrs. Johnson's 
illness. She was the companion of her sick chamber, and 
after her death, failing to receive the expected benefit from 
medical aid, Dr. Johnson, in pity to her desolate situation, 
offered her a home. Her destitute situation enlisted the 
sympathy of his friends, and she became a pensioner 
upon their bounty. Garrick gave her a benefit, which 
settled upon her £200. Mrs. Montagu allowed her ten 
pounds a year, and Miss Carter aided in getting up a 
subscription for her poems, which amounted to nearly 
£1500 more. Thus, though her book has long since 
ceased to make any claim upon the reading world. Miss 
Wilhams is destined to immortality through the generosity 
of her benefactor, and the liberality of his friends. 

Hark ! the heavy tread of the host is at the door : he 
enters : behold his burly and unwieldy body, his face 
disfigured by scrofula, and head surrounded by a large, 
bushy, grayish wig, well singed, or, perhaps, quite 
crisp in front — a very fright to the respectable company 
of wigs with which it daily associates: its master's eyes 



36 H A N N A H M O R E. 

are both weak and near-sighted, which, in his absorbing 
interest for a favorite author, often cause him to bring 
the hght within a dangerous vicinity to his person, quite 
regardless of consequences. When he dined with dis- 
tinguished guests at Leicester-fields, Sir Joshua's butler 
used to take the liberty of drawing the Doctor aside, and 
replacing the old wig with one more suitable to the 
occasion. 

He is dressed in plain bi'own clothes, black worsted 
stockings, and silver knee-buckles. His rolling gait, with 
the odd and convulsive twists of his unwieldy body, 
added to a harsh and imperious voice, altogether formed 
a personelle sufficiently disagreeable to repulse the least 
fastidious ; but with all those defects and infirmities of the 
outward man. Dr. Johnson was the intellectual Hercules 
of his age. 

" Subtle when strong, invincible when right, 
Armed at all points, and glorying in his might ; 
Gladiator-like, he traverses the field, 
And strength and skill compel the foe to yield." 

Of the Doctor, in a softer light, the poet adds — 

"And I have seen him with a milder air, 
Encircled with the witty and the fair, 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 37 

Even in old age, with placid mien rejoice 

At beauty's smile, and beauty's flattering voice." 

At the time of Hannah's introduction to him, he was 
past sixty-five, bearing the accumulated infirmities of age 
and disease, though keenly alive as ever to the pleasures 
of tea and conversation. No person, probably, enjoyed 
with more rehsh that cup which cheers, but not inebriates, 
or possessed a more appreciative sense of the qualities of 
Bohea. 

Come early or late, the tea-table was sure to be spread. 
By the friendly inspiration of the fragrant leaf, his morn- 
ing was endured, his evenings were solaced, and he could 
talk the twenty-four hours together without weariness or 
rest, did not a considerate regard to the bed-time of his 
friends release them from his side. 

"I lie down," he once said, "that my acquaintance 
might sleep, for I lie down to endure oppressive misery, 
and soon rise again to pass the night in anxiety and pain." 
Of poor Johnson it might be said, that bodily existence 
was a torture. 

As he enters now the little parlor in Fleet-street, the 
comers are received with friendly warmth ; he laughs 
lieartily at Hannah, and declares that in the big arm- 
chair he never sits. 

4 



38 HANNAH MORE. 

Perhaps they discuss his "Journey to the Hebrides," 
just pubhshed, a work which shows the fertihty of his 
mind, in investing the dryest subject with interest, and 
turning the most barren spot to a profitable account, four 
thousand copies of the work having been sold on the first 
week of its publication. 

On Hannah's return to Bristol, in 17*74, her feelings 
became warmly enhsted for her favorite candidate in the 
Parliament election, which was then going on, Hon. Ed- 
mund Burke, who made the friendship, and was a frequent 
guest of the Misses More. When success at the polls 
became more than probable, the sisters presented him 
with their congratulatory addresses, through a splendid 
cockade, composed of the sublime and beautiful colors 
analyzed in his famous essay, entwined with myrtle and 
ivy, laurel and bay, decorated with silver tassels, and filled 
with appropriate mottoes, two of which are the following: 

"He is himself the great sublime he di'aws." 
"In action faithful, and in honor clear." 

The box was handed him while surrounded by a large 
company, which being opened, the cockade came to light, 
amid the applauses of his friends, and the universal in- 
quiry whence the tribute came. Burke himself declared 



INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY. 39 

it could only be from his Park-street friends. It was 
elevated to a conspicuous situation in the committee-room, 
until his success became undisputed, when it graced his 
cap on the day of his triumph. 



CHAPTER III. 

a f np at i^t fohtt 

The bright world of intellectual life and social elegance, 
into which Hannah More was suddenly and unexpectedly 
ushered, while it brought her into companionship with 
people whom it was a pleasure and a privilege to know, 
also brought her into contact with amusements and habits, 
which were not only foreign to her tastes, but opposed to 
her moral sense ; though indulged in and enjoyed by her 
new friends and admirei*s, she is not dazzled by their exam- 
ple, or seduced into an approval contrary to her convictions. 

In her free home letters, so full of good sense and 
graphic description, she opens a loophole into her heart 
and habits, through which we see the great and gifted in 
the easy and every-day dress of social and familiar inter- 
course. 

The followina^ was written durins: her second visit to 
London, in 1775 : 

" Our visit was at Sir Joshua's, where we were received 



A PEEP AT THE BLUES. 41 

with all the friendship imaginable. I am going to-day to 
a great dinner : nothing can be conceived so absurd, ex- 
travagant, and fantastical, as the present mode of dressing 
the head. Simplicity and modesty are things so much 
exploded, that their very names are no longer remembered. 
I have just escaped from one of the fashionable disfigurers, 
and though I charged him to dress me with the greatest 
simplicity, and to have only a very distant eye upon the 
fashion, just enough to avoid the pride of singularity; 
yet in spite of all these sage cautions, I absolutely blush 
at myself, and turn to the glass with as much caution as 
a vain beauty just risen from the sraall-pox, which cannot 
be a more disfiguring disease than the present mode of 
dress. Of the one, the calamity may be greater in its 
consequences, but of the other, it is more corrupt in its 
cause. 

" We have been reading a treatise on the morality of 
Shakspeare. It is a happy and easy way of filling a book 
that the present race of authors have arrived at — that of 
criticising the works of some eminent poet ; with mon- 
strous extracts and short remarks. It is a species of 
cookery that I begin to grow tired of: they cut up their 
authors in chops, and by adding a little crumbled bread 
of their own, and tossing it up a little, they present it as 



42 HANNAH MORE. 

a fresh dish: you are to dine upon the poet; the critic 
supphes the garnish, yet has the credit, as well as the 
profit, of the whole entertainment." 

London, 1775. 

I had yesterday the pleasure of dining in Hill-street, 
Berkeley Square, at a certain Mrs. Montagu's, a name not 
totally obscure. The party consisted of herself, Mrs. Car- 
ter, Dr. Johnson, Salander, and Matty, Mrs. Boscawen, 
Miss Reynolds, and Sir Joshua (the idol of every com- 
pany), some other persons of high rank and less wit, and 
your humble servant — a party that would not have dis- 
graced the table of Lelius or of Atticus. I felt myself a 
worm, the more a worm for the consequence which was 
given me, by mixing me with such a society; but, as I 
told Mrs. Boscawen, and with great truth, I had an oppor- 
tunity of making an experiment of my heart, by which I 
learned that I was not envious; for I certainly did not 
repine at being the meanest person in company. 

Mrs. Montagu received me with the most encouraging 
kindness : she is not only the finest genius, but the finest 
lady I ever saw. She hves in the highest style of mag- 
nificence ; her apartments and table are in the most 
splendid taste ; but what baubles are these, when speaking 
of a Montagu ! her form (for she has no body) is delicate 



A PEEP AT THE BLUES. 43 

even to fragility; her countenance the most animated in 
the world ; the sprightly vivacity of fifteen, with the judg- 
ment and experience of a Nestor. But I fear she is hasten- 
ing to decay very fast. Her spirits are so active, that they 
must soon wear out the little frail receptacle that holds 
them. Mrs. Carter has in her person a great deal of what 
the gentlemen mean when they say, such a one is a 
" poetical lady :" however, independently of her great 
talents and learning, I like her much : she has affability, 
kindness, and goodness ; and I honor her heart even more 
than her talents. But I do not like one of them better 
than Mrs. Boscawen : she is at once polite, learned, judi- 
cious, and humble ; and Mrs. Palk tells me, her letters are 
not thought inferior to Mrs. Montagu's. She regretted 
(so did I), that so many suns could not possibly shine 
at one time : but we are to have a smaller party, where, 
from fewer luminaries, there may emanate a clearer, stead- 
ier, and more beneficial light. Dr. Johnson asked me how 
I liked the new tragedy of Braganze. I was afraid to 
speak before company : however, as I thought it a less 
evil to dissent from the opinion of a fellow-creature, than 
to tell a falsity, I ventured to give my sentiments ; and 
was satisfied with Johnson's answering, "you are right, 
madam." 



44 H A N N A H M R E. 

With sisterly pride, and in a tone of aflfectionate eulogy, 
Sarah, who joined Hannah in her winter sojourning at 
London, thus writes, in her bright and lively style, to the 
sisterhood at Bristol : 

London, 1175. 

Tuesday evening we drank tea at Sir Joshua's, with Dr. 
Johnson. Hannah is certainly a great favorite. She was 
placed next him, and they had the entire conversation to 
themselves. They were both in remarkably high spirits : 
it was certainly her lucky night ! I never heard her say so 
many good things. The old genius was extremely jocular, 
and the young one very pleasant. You would have ima- 
gined we had been at some comedy, had you heard our 
peals of laughter. They, indeed, tried which could " pep- 
per the highest," and it is not clear to me that the lexicog- 
rapher was really the highest seasoner. Yesterday, Mr. 
Garrick called upon us ; a volume of Pope lay upon the 
table : we asked him to read, and he went through the 
latter part of the " Essay on Man." He was exceedingly 
good-humored, and expressed himself quite delighted 
with our eager desire for information ; and when he had 
satisfied our interrogatory, "Now, madam, what next?" 
He read several lines we had been disputing about, with 
regard to emphasis, in many different ways, before ho 



APEEPATTIIEDLUES. 45 

decided which was right. He sat with us from half-past 
twelve till three, reading and criticising. We have just 
had a call from Mr. Burke. 

London, 1*775. 
"Bear me, some god, O quickly bear me hence. 
To wholesome solitude, the nurse of " 

" Sense," I was going to add, in the words of Pope, till I 
recollected that ^jewce had a more appropriate meaning, 
and was as good a rhyme. This apostrophe broke from 
me, writes Hannah, on coming from the opera, the first I 
ever did, the last, I trust, I ever sludl go to. For what 
purpose has the Lord of the universe made his creature 
man with a comprehensive mind ? why make him a little 
lower than the angels ? why give him the faculty of think- 
ing, the powers of wit and memory ; and to crown all, an 
immortal and never-dying spirit? Why all this wondrous 
waste, this prodigality of bounty, if the mere animal senses 
of sight and hearing (by which he is not distinguished 
from the brutes that perish) would have answered the end 
as well ; and yet I find that the same people are seen at 
the opera every night — an amusement written in a lan- 
guage the greater part of them do not understand, and 
performed by such a set of beings. But the man 



46 HANNAHMORE. 

" Who bade the reign commence 
Of rescued nature and reviving sense," 

sat at ray elbow, and reconciled me to my situation, not 
by his approbation, but Lis presence. Going to the opera, 
like getting drunk, is a sin that carries its own punishment 
with it, and that a very severe one. Thank my dear Doc- 
tor Stonehouse for his kind and seasonable admonitions 
on my last Sunday's engagement at Mrs. Montagu's. 
Conscience had done its office before ; nay, was busy at 
the time ; and if it did not dash the cup of pleasure to 
the ground, infused at least a tincture of wormwood into 
it. I did think of the alarming call, " What doest thou 
here, Elijah ?" and I thought of it to-night at the opera. 

Sunday Nigut, 9 o'clock. 
Perhaps you will say, I ought to have thought of it 
again to-day, when I tell you I have dined abroad ; but it 
is a day I reflect on without those uneasy sensations one 
has, when one is conscious it has been spent in trifling 
company. I have been at Mrs. Boscawen's. Mrs. Mon- 
tagu, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Chapone, and myself only were ad- 
mitted. We spent the time, not as wits, but as reasonable 
creatures ; better characters, I trow. The conversation was 
sprightly, but serious. I have not enjoyed an afternoon so 



APEEPATTIIEBLUES. 47 

miicli since I have been in town. There was much ster- 
hng sense, and they are all ladies of high character for 
piety, of which, however, I do not think their visiting on 
Sunday any proof: for though their conversation is edi- 
fying, the example is bad. 

The more I see of the " honored, famed, and great," the 
more I see of the httleness, the imsatisfactoriness of all cre- 
ated good, and that no earthly pleasure can fill up the 
wants of the immortal principle within. One need go no 
farther than the company I have just left, to be convinced 
that " pain is for man," and that fortune, talents, and sci- 
ence, are no exemption from the universal lot. Mrs. Mon- 
tagu, eminently distinguished for wit and virtue, " the 
wisest where all are wise," is hastening to insensible decay 
by a slow but sure hectic. Mrs. Chapone has experienced 
the severest reverses of fortune ; and Mrs. Boscawen's life 
has been a continued series of afflictions, that may almost 
bear a parallel with those of the righteous man of Uz. 
Tell me, then, what is it to be wise ? This, you will say, 
is exhibiting the unfavorable side of the picture of human- 
ity, but it is the right side, the side that shows the hke- 
ness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

While Miss More was at home in the winter of 1'775, 
she one day said to her sisters, " I have been so fed with 
praise, I think I will venture to try what my real value 
is, by writing a slight poem." 

Her social position had been greatly changed since the 
Pastoral Drama issued from her pen, perhaps at the desk 
of the noisy school-room, beyond which lier fame and in- 
fluence were but just extending. 

London and "live authors" were yet in the distance, 
lying in the warm sunlight of her youthful fancy, nor had 
her gayest hopes or wildest wishes or maturing powers 
foretold the honored destiny in store for her. Now, on the 
path of time, had she been out to meet it; the brilHant 
circles of London already delighted in her presence ; wit, 
wealth, and learning, bade her welcome ; her mind, quick- 
ened and enriched, asked for proof of the powers thus ad- 
mired and valued by the great and gifted. 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. 49 

The Pastoral Drama even had become a favorite: a 
sixth edition had been called for, and it was this year pub- 
lished in Philadelphia, whence came two little poems in 
compliment to its author : the entire profits of the sale had 
netted £100. 

Hannah resumed her pen, and within a fortnight, two 
poems were completed, — " Sir Eldred of the Bower," and 
" The Bleeding Rock." These, on her return to London, 
she presented to a well-known publisher, Cadell, who 
offered her forty guineas, promising at the same time, 
could she discover what Goldsmith received for his " De- 
serted Village," to increase the sum to that amount. 

Of this flattering award of pounds and pence, the " De- 
serted Village" has now no right to feel envious, for it has 
a pepetual inheritance in our hearts, while " Sir Eldred," 
after a brief fondling from the great men of his day, has 
passed into obscurity and neglect. 

Miss Sally More, who accompanied her sister to London, 
writes home the gratifying news — " From Miss Reynolds 
w^e learn, that Sir Eldred is the theme of conversation in 
all the polite circles, and that the beauteous Bertha has 
kindled a flame in the cold heart of Johnson, who declares, 
tluit her parent has but one fault, which is, suffering her- 
self to graze upon the barren rocks of Bristol, v/hile the 



50 II A N N A II M O K E. 

rich pastures of London are guarded by no fence which 
could exclude her from thein.'^ 

In another letter she adds : " If a wedding should take 
place before our return, don't be surprised — between the 
mother of Sir Eldred and the father of Irene— nay, Mrs. 
Montagu says, if tender words are the precursors of connu- 
bial engagements, we may expect great things ; for it is 
nothing but 'child,' a 'little fool,' Move,' and 'dearest.' 
After much critical discourse, he turns round to me, and 
with one of his most amiable looks, which must be seen to 
form the least idea of, he says : ' I have heard you are en- 
gaged in the useful and honorable occupation of teaching 
young ladies :' upon which, with all the ease, familiarity, 
and confidence we should have done, had only our dear 
Dr. Stonehouse been present, we entered upon the history 
of our birth, parentage, and education, showing how wc 
were born with more desires than guineas, and how as years 
increased our appetites, the cupboard, at length, began to 
grow too small for them, and how with a bottle of water, a 
bed and a blanket, we set out to seek our fortunes ; and 
how we found a great house with nothing in it ; and how 
it was like to remain so, till looking into our knowledge- 
boxes, we happened to find a little learning a very good 
thing, when land is gone — and so, at last, by giving a little 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. 61 

of this to those who had less, we got a good store of gold 
in return — but how, alas, we wanted the wit to keep it. 
' I love you both,' cried the Doctor. * I love you all five ! 
I never was at Bristol ; I will come on purpose to see you, 
— what ! five women Hve happily together ! I will come 
and see you. I have spent a happy evening ; I am glad 
I came ; God forever keep you — you live to shame duch- 
esses.' He took his leave w^ith so much warmth and ten- 
derness, we were quite affected by his manner." 

The sisters visited Garrick at his beautiful rural resi- 
dence at Hampton, where he entertained them by read- 
ing the W'hirasical correspondence in prose and verse, which 
for many years he had carried on with the first geniuses 
of that age. 

" We see him now," says Patty, " in his mellower hght, 
when the w^orld has been shaken off: he saj^s, he longs to 
enter into himself, and to study the more important duties 
of life, which he is determined upon doing. The next time 
we go, Hannah is to carry some of her writing ; she is to 
have a little table by herself, and to continue her studies, 
while he does the same." 

" I dined at the Adelphia yesterday," writes Hannah, 
in one of her free home-letters, revealing so much of just 
what it is pleasant to know. " It was a particular occa- 



52 HANNAH MORE. 

sion, an annual meeting, where nothing but men are usu- 
ally asked. I, however, was of the party, and an agree- 
able day it was to me. I have seldom heard so much wit 
under the banner of so much decorum. Colman and Dr. 
Schomburg were of the party ; the rest were chiefly old 
doctors of divinity. At six I begged leave to come home, 
as I expected a pohte assembly a httle after seven. They 
came at seven. The dramatis personce were Mrs. Bosca- 
wen, Mrs. Garrick, and Miss Reynolds : my beaux were 
Dr. Johnson, Dean Tucker, and last, but not least in our 
love, David Garrick. You know that wherever Johnson 
is, the confinement to the tea-table is rather a durable sit- 
uation, and it was an hour and a half before I got ray en- 
largement. Garrick was the very soul of the company, and 
I never saw Johnson in such perfect good humor. Sally 
knows that we have often heard that one can never prop- 
erly enjoy the company of these two unless they arc 
together. There is great truth in this remark ; for after 
the Dean and Mrs. Boscawen (who were the only stran- 
gers) were withdrawn, and the rest stood up to go, Jolm- 
son and Garrick began a close encounter, telling old sto- 
ries, ' e'en from their boyish days,' at Litchfield. We all 
stood around them for above an hour, laughing in defiance 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. 63 

of every rule of Chesterfield. Johnson outstaid them all, 
and sat with me half an hour." 

At the repeated and urgent solicitations of the Garricks, 
Miss More soon after took up her abode at the Adelphia, 
their town house, of which she humorously says, " The 
master and mistress are sensible, well-behaved people, and 
keep good company ; besides, they are fond of books, and 
can read, and have a shelf full, which they lend me. Add 
to this, it is not a common lodging-house : they are care- 
ful whom they take in ; and will have no people of bad 
character, or who keep irregular hours." 

"I have a great deal of time at my own disposal, to read 
my own books, and see my own friends ; and whenever I 
please, may join in the most elegant and pohshed society 
in the world. Our breakfasts are httle literary societies — 
there is generally company at meals, as they think it 
saves time, by avoiding the necessity of seeing people at 
other seasons. Mr. Garrick sets the highest value upon 
his time. I detest and avoid public places more than 
ever, and should make a miserably bad fine lady." 

Some idea may be formed of her industry, that amid 
all the social attractions which surrounded her, she could 
find time to read four or five hours every day, and some- 
times write ten. 

5# 



54 H A N N A H M O K E. 

There is something heart-warming in the cordial and 
unfettered intercourse of Hannah and her London friends. 
The circle into which she had been thrown contained 
almost every element for social enjoyment: no circle, 
indeed, has been more famed for its colloquial powei's, 
to which wit, learning, and refinement, good breeding, 
good nature, and good sense, made such unstinted con- 
tributions. 

How pleasant is it to snatch these glimpses into the 
home-life of distinguished men, and to see them, as it 
were, in their every-day dress. 

Miss More once said to Horace Walpole, " that the 
truest objects of warm attachment are the small parts 
of great characters," which, we cannot help thinking, 
comprehends a delightful truth. Who does not love 
Cowper taming his hares, or enjoy Johnson sipping his 
tea, or Pope at work in his garden ? — when the abilities 
which inspired our admiration, and seemed to lift their 
possessor beyond the common reach of our sympathies, 
taketh pleasure in those "slender joys, which, often re- 
peated, fall like sunshine on the soul." 

"Let me tell you a ridiculous circumstance which hap- 
pened the other day," writes Hannah, in one of her 
delightful home-letters. "After dinner Garrick took up 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. 55 

the Monthly Review (civil gentlemen, by-the-bye, these 
monthly reviewers), and read 'Sir Eldred' with all his 
grace and pathos. I think I was never so ashamed in 
my life ; but he read it so superlatively that I cried like 
a child. Only think, what a scandalous thing to cry at 
the reading of one's own poetry! I could have beaten 
myself; for it looked as if I thought it very moving, 
which, I can truly say, is far from being the case. But 
the beauty of the jest lies in this : Mrs. Garrick twinkled 
as w^ell as I, and made as many apologies for crying at 
her husband's reading, as I did for crying at ray own 
verses. She got out of the scrape, by pretending that 
she was touched by the story, and / by saying the same 
thing of the reading. It furnished us a great laugh at 
the catastrophe, when it really would have been decent 
to have been a little more sorrowful." 

In spite of Sir Eldred's fome among his contempo- 
raries, and Mrs. Montagu's declaration — a very partial 
one, we must beheve, "that The Bleeding Rock will 
stand, unimpaired by ages, as eminent as any in the 
Grecian Parnassus;" and of Richard Burke, who calls 
them "truly elegant and tender performances," we 
cannot help thinking that the moral embraced in Sir 



66 H A N N A II M ORE. 

Eldred's closing lines is destined to a far longer existence, 
than the legend which verifies it. 

" The deadliest -wounds with which we bleed, 
Our crimes inflict alone ; 
Man's mercies from God's hand proceed, 
His miseries from his own." 

Garrick, for so many years the pride of tlie Englisti 
stage, was now upon the eve of quitting it forever, in order 
to taste the sweets, and enjoy the calm of private life. 
Having nearly reached his " chair age," and becoming 
subject to severe attacks of sickness, which must soon im- 
pair his physical powers, he resolved to leave with all his 
honors thick upon him. Before doing so, he consented 
once more, and for the last time, to exhibit those remark- 
able powers which inspired Dr. Franklin to write at once 
a correct criticism and just eulogy in the following lines : — 

" So when Great Shakspeare to his Garrick joined, 
"With mutual aid conspire to rouse the mind, 
'Tis not a scene of idle mimicry; 
Tis Lear's, Hamlet's, Richard's self we see. 
We feel the actor's strength, the poet's fire ; 
"With joy we praise, with rapture we admire. 
To see such powers within tlie reach of art, 
And fiction thus subdue the human heart." 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. St 

For two or three weeks, Drury Lane was filled with ad- 
miring audiences. In the character of Hamlet, Garrick 
is said particularly to have excelled, filling, with singular 
power, says one, the whole soul of the spectator, and 
transcending the most finished idea of the poet. 

*' I have, at last," writes Hannah on this occasion to Dr. 
Stonehouse, " had the entire satisfaction of seeing Garrick 
in Hamlet. Posterity will never be able to form the 
slightest idea of his powers. The more I see him, the 
more I wonder and admire. It seems to me as if I had 
been assisting at the funeral obsequies of the poets. I feel 
almost as much pain as pleasure. He is quite happy in 
the prospect of his release." 

The strong intelligence of his eye, the animated and 
ever-varying expression of his whole countenance, the flexi- 
bility of his voice, with his grace and ease of attitude, is 
said altogether to have produced an indescribable and 
profound impression upon the mind, and one which no 
language can convey to another. 

At the final parting Garrick wept, while tears and ap- 
plauses accompanied from the stage. This occurred in 
May, HICk 

He soon afterwards disposed of his share in Drury Lane 
for £35,000, and retreated to domestic privacy, in hope, 



68 H A N N A H M O R E, 

perhaps, of spending the last acts of life's drama in scenes 
more befitting a final exit behind the curtain of eternity. 
Touching the event, Hannali thus expresses herself in the 
concluding verses of a little poem, written after her return 
to Bristol, and addressed to Dragon, Garrick's favorite dog. 

" How wise ! long pampered with applause, 
To make a voluntary pause, 

And lay his laurels down ! 
Boldly repelling each strong claim, 
To dare assert to wealth and fame, 

Enough of both I've kiK)wn. 

How wise ! a short retreat to steal, 
Tlie vanity of life to feel. 

And from its cares to fly ; 
To act one cahn, domestic scene, 
Earth's bustle and the grave between, 

Retire, and learn to die." 

What Dragon failed to appreciate in the ode, the poet 
naturally concluded his master would, and it issues from 
her pen an utterance of grateful love for the affection and 
kindness unsparingly bestowed upon her by his famed 
master. Ah, yes, humorously sings the bard. 



LITEliAKY BLOSSOMINGS. 50 

"I'd get my master's ways by rote, 
Ne'er would I bark at ragged coat, 

Nor tear the tattered sinner ; 
Like him, I'd love the dog of merit. 
Caress the cur of broken spu'it, 

And give them all a dinner. 

And then on me what joys would wait ; 
Were I the guardian of the gate, 

How useless bolt and latch ! 
How vain were locks, and bars how vain, 
To shield from harm the household train 

Whom I, from love, would watch !" 

Manuscript copies of this little poem were handed 
around and read by her friends, until she was induced to 
pubhsh it in 1 7 78, when a thousand copies were sold in a 
single week. 

On the following summer we find Miss More journeying 
into Norfolk, hunting up old friends of her father, visiting 
country cousins, eating brown bread and custards, and 
thoroughly appreciating all the good sense which fell in 
her way. 

Hannah never knew whether to be angry or ashamed, 
whether to scold or to blush at the fashionable impositions 



GO H A N N A H M O R E. 

of her day. "I protest" she exclaimed, in speaking of 
some young ladies wlio came in to pay her an evening's 
visit, "I hardly do them justice when I pronounce that 
they had among them, on their heads, an acre and an half 
of shrubbery, besides slopes, grass-plats, tulip-beds, clumps 
of peonies, kitchen-gardens, and green -houses." 

" Some ladies carry on their heads a large quantity of 
fruit, and yet they would despise a poor, useful member of 
society, who carried it there for the purpose of selling it for 
bread. Spirit of Addison !" she humorously supplicates — 
" thou, who with such fine humor and polished sarcasm 
didst lash the cherry-colored hood and party patches, and 
cut down a whole harvest of follies, awake ! for the follies 
thou didst lash were but the beginning of folhes ! and the 
absurdities thou didst censure were but the seeds of ab- 
surdities !" 

Garrick, it is said, struck the first blow to this fashion- 
able folly, by appearing one evening on the stage, his cap 
decorated with a profusion of every sort of vegetable, with 
a huge carrot hanging down on either side. 

One cannot help thinking that the spirit of reform has 
been heard in the councils of fashion, for her sway is surely 
less capricious and more benign in our own day ; indeed, 
when we compare the frightful wigs and cushions, the 



LITERARY iJLOSSOMINGS. 61 

high-heeled shoes and buckram bodices of our grandames, 
with the comparative ease aud naturalness of our own 
times, one cannot help hoping that Fashion has entered 
into a league of good fellowship with Nature, graciously 
allowing her the exercise of some of her inalienable rights 
to hfe and liberty, if not to the pursuit of happiness. 

But if the follies of London, aped in the retreats of 
Hertfordshire, pained and provoked her, she found some 
amends in a visit to Mrs. Barbauld, and in the sterling 
merits of her cousin Cotton, from whose style of living 
she draws the following sensible conclusion, true all the 
world over, and worthy the serious consideration of people 
whose expenses are getting the better of their principles 
and their purses. "I have long ago found out, that 
hardly anybody but frugal, plain people, do generous 
things. Our cousin Cotton, who, I dare say, is often 
ridiculed for his simplicity and frugality, could yet lay 
down £200, without beinoj sure of ever receiving a shil- 
ling interest, for the laudable purpose of establishiug a 
worthy minister, to whom he is still a very considerable 
contributor. This is commonly the case ; and I am apt 
to conceive a prejudice against everybody who makes a 
great figure, and to suspect those who talk generously." 

On her return, she accompanied the Garricks to Farn- 
6 



62 II A N N A H M O 11 E. 

borough Place, the residence of Mr. Wilmot, where she 
met, among other distinguished guests, Dr. Kennicott, 
Hebrew Professor of Oxford, and his wife, with whom 
Miss More was soon on an intimate footing. 

In the year 1777, Miss More again took up her pen, 
and at the urgent entreaty of Garrick, determined to try 
her powers in drama. "Percy" was the fruit of her 
labors. She sent it to him, who, delighted with her 
success, recommended it to Mr. Harris, the manager of 
Drury Lane. The tragedy was accepted, and preparations 
were speedily made for bringing it out. Hannah went 
down to London to bespeak a prologue from Garrick ; 
for which, on being finished, he humorously begged to 
know what she meant to pay him ; — ^Dryden, he declared, 
used to have five guineas, but as he was a richer man, 
he would be content with a handsome supper. Hannah 
insisted she could only aftbrd a beef-steak and a bottle of 
porter ; but at last they settled down on toast and honey, 
— highly flavored, we may venture to add, with wit and 
good humor. 

Percy was received with acclamation, and was played 
for twelve nights to overflowing houses, netting her £700. 

The Duke of Northumberland, and the Earl of Percy, 
sent to congratulate her on her great success, and to thank 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. 63 

her for the honor she had done them, by selecting her 
subject from the historical records of their family. De- 
tained at home by the gout, they sent and bought tick- 
ets, for which they paid as "became the blood of the 
Percies." 

" Many scenes in this play," says Davies, Garrick's bi- 
ographer, "prognosticate to our stage a rising genius in 
tragedy, who, in time, will produce scenes, not inferior 
to the best of Otway and Southem, without that mixture 
of licentiousness and vulgarity, which disgrace the pro- 
ductions of these writers." 

The success of Percy increased the interest already felt 
in Hannah More by her London friends. She is beset 
with engagements and visitations. One day we find her 
at Sir Joshua's, another at Mrs. Montagu's, with Mrs. 
Chapone, Mi-s. Boscawen, and Miss Carter; another at 
the Garricks', with the " Sour-crout party," a meeting of 
learned men once a week at dinner, at which sour-crout 
always made a dish, and to which Miss More was always 
invited, when she was in town. 

" They are plapng Percy," writes its author to her 
sisters, "at this very moment, for the seventh time. I 
never think of going: it is very odd, but it does not 
amuse me." 



64 H A N N A H M R E. 

" Last night was the ninth of Percy : it was a brilliant 
house, and / was there. Lady North did me the honor 
to take a stage-box. I trembled when the wickedness of 
going to war was spoken, as I was afraid my Lord was in 
the house, and that speech, though not written with any 
particular design, is so bold, and is so warmly received, 
that it frightens me. Mrs. Montagu had a box again; 
which, as she is a consummate critic, and is hardly ever 
seen at a public place, is a great credit to the play. We 
spent an agreeable evening together at Dr. Cadogan's, 
where she and I, being the only two monsters in the 
creation, who never touch a card (and laughed at enough 
we are for it), had the fireside to ourselves ; and a more 
elegant and instructive conversation I have seldom en- 
joyed. I met Mrs. Chapone one day at Mrs. Montagu's : 
she is one of Percy's warmest admirers ; and as she does 
not go to plays, but has formed her opinion in the closet, 
it is more flattering." 

"Mrs. Garrick came to mc this moi'uing, and wished 
me to go to the Adelphi, which I declined doing, being 
so ill. She would have gone herself to fetch me a phy- 
sician, and insisted upon sending me my dinner, which T 
refused ; but at six this evening, when Garrick came to 
the Turk's Head to dine, there accompanied him in the 



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS. Qo 

coach, a miuccd chicken in the stew-pan, hot, a canister 
of her fine tea, and a pot of cream. Were there ever 
such people ? Tell it not in Epic or Lyric, that the great 
lioscius rode with a stew-pan of minced meat with him 
in the coach, for my dinner. Percy is acted again this 
evening; do any of you choose to go? For my own 
part, I shall enjoy a much superior pleasure — that of 
sitting by the fire, in a good chair, and being denied to 
all company : what is Percy to this 1" 

Miss More remained at London during the winter, and 

in April, 1778, returned to Bristol, where she spent the 

summer, in the quiet enjoyment of those pursuits so 

congenial to her tastes, and in the exei'cise of those dear, 

delightful home affections, which made the sunshine of 

her life. 

6* 



CHAPTER V. 

Si^ntlj nf ((Jarrirk— (Dn (t'ljrfltriral anmsnin^Ets. 

The New- Year's greetings of 1779 had scarcely died 
away, before the tidings of Garrick's death startled and 
saddened the EngHsh public. Amid the Christmas fes- 
tivities of Althorp, whither he had gone with his wife, he 
had been suddenly stricken by his old complaint, the 
stone, whose premonitory warnings he had disregarded, in 
leaving home and mingling at all in the gayeties of the 
season. 

Recovering a little, he was carried to London, where it 
was thought skill and attention might again restore him. 
The distemper not yielding to the usual remedies, some of 
the most able practitioners of tlie city came unbidden to 
his bedside ; but the power of human science, and the 
faithful nursing of his wife, availed not. Life was ebbing. 
His family physician informed him that if he had any 
worldly affairs to settle, it would be prudent to despatch 
them as soon as possible. 



DEATH OF GARRICK. 67 

" I have nothing of that kind to do," answered Garrick, 
on whose now wan and sunken face, the shadow of death 
was already passing. 

Wednesday morning, January 20th, 1779, witnessed his 
closing act in the great drama of Hfe. 

Obedient to the summons of the afflicted wife, Hannah 
arose from her sick bed, and with a sorrowing heart, has- 
tened to the house of death. Mrs. Garrick sunk into her 
arms. " I have this moment embraced his coffin, and you 
come next !" she exclaimed, with a bursting heart ; " the 
goodness of God to me is inexpressible. I do not deserve 
it, but I am thankful for it." 

What a change in the princely mansion ! the wit, the 
genius, the presence of its " well-graced master," were no 
longer there. Sorrow sat upon every household face, and 
the rooms were hung with the drapery of mourning. 

After minghng her tears, and ministering her consola- 
tions to the hving, she paid a melancholy visit to all that 
was left of the departed. 

" His new house," she says, " is not so pleasant as 
Hampton, or so splendid as the Adelphia, but it is com- 
modious enough for the wants of its inhabitant ; and be- 
sides, it is so quiet that he will never be disturbed until 
the eternal morning. May he then find mercy !" 



68 II A N N A II M O R E. 

Tho funeral solemnities took place on the first of Febru- 
ary, when his body was borne in all the pomp and circum- 
stance of an English public burial, to Westminster Abbey, 
and laid in the poet's corner, beneath the tomb of Shaks- 
peare. 

Hannah, accompanied by Miss Cadogan, who had 
gained tickets of admission into the Abbey — no one being 
allowed an entrance without a passport from the Bishop — 
sat in a little gallery directly over the grave, where she 
could distinctly hear and see the solemn ceremony. " And 
this is all of Garrick," was the sad utterance of her heart — 
"yet a very little while and he shall say to the worm. 
Thou art my brother ; and to corruption, Thou art my 
mother and my sister. So passes away the fashion of 
this world." 

For the sake of his friendship for Ilannah More, and 
the discerning appreci.-ition which he seems to have enter- 
tained for her abilities, as v/eil as for his wonderful dra- 
matic power, and the amiable and friendly intercourse 
which we have holden with him in these brief pages, shall 
we not add a few more words before the final leave- 
taking ? 

There may be some, whose inquiries we might antici- 
pate by adding, that David Garrick was born in Litchfield, 



DEATH OF GARRICK, 



of respectable parents, in the year 1716. At the age of 
nineteen, he became a pupil in the newly opened seminary 
of Samuel Johnson, which, after a few weeks' trial, was 
abandoned both by pupil and teacher. The two then 
joined together, determined to push for London, the Mecca 
of so many pilgrims, the grave of so many hopes. But 
while many a poet and genius had dropped like untimely 
fruit from the tree of life, in the foul and murky atmosphere 
of London, Johnson and Garrick fought their way through 
every hindrance, which the lack of fortune and of friends 
may be conceived to set up, and became, at last, among 
the great men of their times ; each, in his own sphere, the 
greatest that had yet been. 

As an actor, Garrick is said never to have had a com- 
petitor — never an equal. He won fame, fortune, and 
friends, while his domestic virtues, ample means, and re- 
fined tastes, placed him in a social position far above the 
men of his profession ; and yet must we not add — poor 
Garrick ! 

Social life, refined, graceful, thoughtless, was the element 
in which he lived and moved : his marvellous powers 
adorned and delighted the world, and the world rewarded 
her gifted votary. Yet to the sober eye of reason, and the 
severer decisions of christian requirement, the treasures of 



70 HANNAH MORE. 

his genius were wasted to serve the poor purpose of amu- 
sing his fellow-men, and futurity was mortgaged for the 
gay sunshine of an hour. 

The soul, bereaved of its spiritual susceptibilities, and 
beggared of its heavenly hopes, meets death with calm in- 
difference, 

Were " life but a walking shadow ; a poor player 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more" — 

then were all well — hut after death is the Judgment. 

Miss More, after Garrick's death, wrote two more 
dramas ; " The Fatal Falsehood," and " The Inflexible 
Captive ;" and with these closed her contributions to the 
stage. This period of intellectual excitement and literary 
success was brief as it was brilliant ; for her views of theat- 
rical amusements had already become modified by an in- 
creasing observation of their effects, and a few years later, 
she came to regard them dangerous to morals, and hostile 
to christian virtue. 

There are few, perhaps, whose opinions npon this subject 
are more entitled to a respectful hearing, not only because 
her social connections and friendly intercourse with Garrick 
would have tempted her to view them in the most favor- 



ON THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS. 7l 

able light, but because she cannot be accused of any secret 
or early bias against them, it being thought no robbery of 
religious character for dignitaries and members of the 
church to frequent the theatre ; her opinions, therefore, are 
the caudid and impartial result of a clear head and a 
correct heart. 

" Why," let us ask her, " why write for the stage 
at all?" 

" Because," she replies, " I was led to entertain, what I 
must now think, a delusive hope that the stage, under cer- 
tain regulations, might be converted into a school of virtue 
— that though a bad play would alwavs be a bad things, 
yet the representation of a good one might become not 
only harmless, but useful. On these grounds I attempted 
some theatrical compositions, which, whatever other defects 
might be justly imputed to them, should at least have 
been written on the side of virtue and modesty, and which 
should neither hold out any corrupt image to the mind or 
any impure description to the fancy." 

Are not then good plays harmless, nay, improving? 

"There will still remain, even in tragedies," she rephes, 
" otherw^ise the most unexceptionable, provided they are 
sufficiently impassioned to produce a powerfid effect on 
the feehngs, and have spirit enough to deserve to become 



72 H A N N A H M R E. 

popular, an essential, radical defect. What I insist on is, 
that there almost inevitably runs through the whole web 
of the tragic drama, a prominent thread of false principle. 
It is generally the leading object of the poet to erect a 
standard of honor, in direct opposition to the standard of 
Christianity. Worldly honor is the very soul, and spirit, 
and life-giving principle of the drama. It is her moral and 
political law. Fear and shame are the capital crimes in 
her code. Love, jealousy, hatred, ambition, pride, revenge, 
are too often elevated into the rank of splendid virtues, 
and form a dazzling system of worldly morality in direct 
contradiction to the spirit of Christianity. The fruits of the 
Spirit and the fruits of the stage, if the parallel were fol- 
lowed up, would exhibit as pointed a contrast as human 
imagination could conceive." 

What ! must the merits of every play be tried by the 
Ten Commandments ? 

" We may at least venture to answer, that they should 
contain nothing hostile to them. If harmless merriment 
be not expected to advance our moral improvement, we 
must take care that it do not oppose it ; for if we concede 
that our amusements are not expected to make us better 
than we are, ought we not to be careful that they do not 
make us worse than they find us ? Whatever pleasantry 



ON THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS. V3 

of idea, or gayety of sentiment we admit, should we not 
jealously watch against any unsoundness in the general 
principle, or mischief in the prevailing tendency ?" 

But what essential difference is there between reading 
a play and seeinr/ it acted ; surely one would not object to 
reading dramatic composition ? 

"I think there is a substantial difference," she still 
argues, " between seeing and reading a dramatic composi- 
tion, and that the objections v/hich lie so strongly against 
the one, are not, at least in the same degree, applicable to 
the other. While there is an essential and inseparable 
danger attendant on dramatic exhibitions, the danger in 
reading a play arises solely from the improper sentiments 
contained in it. It is the semblance of real action which 
is given to the piece by different persons supporting the 
different parts, and by their dress, tones, and gestures, 
heightening the representation into a kind of enchantment. 
It is the pageantry, the splendor of the spectacle, and even 
the show of the spectators, these are the circumstances 
which fill the theatre, produce the effect, and create the 
dano-cr. These give a pernicious force to sentiments, 
whicl), when read, may merely explain the mysterious 
nction of the human heart, but which, when thus uttered 
and accompanied, become contagious and destructive. 



Y4 H A N N A H M R E, 

These, in short, make up a scene of temptation and seduc- 
tion, of over-wrought voluptuousness and unnerving pleas- 
ure, which ill accords with a desire to be enlightened by 
the doctrines, or governed by the principles of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ." 

But may not the stage become purified, so as to render 
it at least harmless and unobjectionable ? 

" What the stage might be under another and an imagi- 
nary state of things, it is not very easy for us to know, and 
therefore, not very important to inquire. Nor is it the 
soundest logic to argue on the possible goodness of a thing, 
which, in the present circumstances of society, is doing 
positive evil, from the imagined good that thing might be 
conjectured to produce in a supposed state of unattainable 
improvement ; for unfortunately nothing can be done until 
not only the stage itself has undergone complete purifica- 
tion, but until the audience shall be purified also. We 
must first suppose a state of society in which the specta- 
tors will be disposed to relish all that is pure, and to rep- 
robate all that is corrupt, before the system of a pure and 
uncorrupt theatre can be adopted with any reasonable 
hope of success ; there must always be a harmony between 
the taste of the spectator and the nature of the spectacle, 



ox THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS. 15 

in order to produce pleasure, for people go to a play not to 
be instructed, but to be amused." 

Let every tliougbtful parent, doubting Christian, or 
tempted youth, read carefully, and ponder seriously these 
positions. There is, perhaps, no question in christian edu- 
cation more difficult to settle than what amusements are 
safe for our children, or what recreations the young Chris- 
tian, away from the restraints and pastimes of home, may 
engage in with safety to himself and honor to his Divine 
Master. 

We would point the latter to those principles laid down 
to Wesley by his mother : " Whatever weakens your 
reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures 
your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things, 
— in short, whatever increases the strength and authority 
of your body over your mind, that thing is si7i to you, 
however innocent it may be in itself." 

And yet you may be placed amid influences, which, 
for a time, may blind your judgment, and persuade you 
from your steadfastness : you find yourself overpowered by 
plausible reasoning, which you cannot readily meet, and 
because you cannot meet it, you are tempted to yield. 
You are not unlikely to find yourself thus perplexed : what 



1Q H A N N A II M R E. 

shall you do ? Shall you yield without hearty conviction, 
in deference merely to the skill or sneer of your compan- 
ions ? 

What shall you do ? Refer to the exami^le of intelligent 
men and ivomen, eminent for IwUness : how have devoted 
servants of God viewed the subject ? What has been the 
christian apprehension of the chui'ch upon the matter ? It 
is of no great consequence whether you understand or not 
the train of thought or course of argument by which their 
minds were made up and their conduct directed ; you 
have no time, it may be, to examine them if you would ; 
it is enough to know how they acted, and that it will bo 
safe and wise to imitate their example. 

Do not hesitate to lean upon an argument hke this, in 
harmony with the spirit of the Word of God. It is no 
sign of weakness to take counsel of the matured judgments 
of christian experience, or of growth and manliness to dis- 
regard them. 



CHAPTER Yl. 

Hampton, 1*780. 
"I WISH you a merry Christmas as well as a bappy 
New Year, but tbat I bate the word merry as so applied ; 
it is a fitter epitbet for a baccbanalian than a cbristian fes- 
tival, and seems an apology for idle mirtb and injurious 
excess. Wbat frost ! wbat snow ! Tbe vast expanse of 
glittering wbite on tbe ground, tbe fluid brilliants dropping 
from tbe trees, and tbe green-bouse full of beautiful blos- 
soms and oranges, make it altogether look like some 
region of enchantment ; and as tbe gravel walks are all 
swept clean, I parade an hour or two every morning." 

1^81. 
" If I commit any sin here or do any good here, it must 
be in thought, for our words are few and our deeds not at 
all. Poor Hermes Harris is dead ! Everybody is dead, I 
think — one is almost ashamed of being abve ! Tbat you 
may not think I pass my time quite idly, I must tell you 



*I8 H A N N A H M O R E. 

that I had begun Belshazzar ; I like the subject, and have 
made some progress in it. But that and all my other oc- 
cupations have given way to the melancholy employment 
of reading over with Mrs. Garrick all the private letters of 
the dear deceased master of this melancholy mansion. 
The employment, though sad, is not without its amuse- 
ment ; it is reading the friendly correspondence of all the 
men who have made a figure in the annals of business or 
of literature for the last forty years ; for I think I hardly 
miss a name of eminence in Great Britain, and not many 
in France ; it includes also all his answers, some of the first 
wits in the country confessing their obligations over and 
over again to his bounty ; money given to some, and lent 
to such numbers as would be incredible \i one did not read 
it in their own letters. It is not the least instructive part 
of this employment to consider where almost all these 
great men are now ! the play-writers, where are they ? and 
the poets, are their fires extinguished ? Did Lord Bath, or 
Bishop Warburton, or Lord Chatham, or Goldsmith, or 
Churchill, or Chesterfield, trouble themselves with think- 
ing that the heads that dictated those bright epistles 
would so soon be laid low ? Did they imagine that such 
a nobody as I am, whom they would have disdained to 



CORRESPONDENCE. 79' 

have reckoned ' with the dogs of their flock,' should have 
had the arranging and disposing of them ?" 

London, April, 1*781, 

" I was last Monday at a meeting at the Bishop) of St 
Asaphs, and had the pleasure of a vast deal of snug chat 
with the Bishop, Mr. Walpole, Mrs. IMontagu, and Mrs, 
Carter. 

Mrs. Kennicott tells me Bishop Lowth insists upon my 
publishing " Sensibility," and all my other poems together, 
immediately, that people may have them all together. 
The Dean of Gloucester has sent me his book against 
Locke, splendidly bound. 

On Friday I dined at Mrs. Boscawen's. We had a 
snug day and a deal of that social, cordiiil chat that is so 
preferable to all the mummery of great parties. 

Tuesday we were a small and choice party at Bishop 
Shipley's. Lord and Lady Spencer, Lord and Lady Al- 
thorpe, Sir Joshua, Boswell, Gibbon, and to my agreeable 
surprise. Dr. Johnson. 

Mrs. Garrick and he had never met since her bereave- 
ment. Johnson came to see us the next morning, and 
made us a long visit. On Mrs. Garrick's telling him she 
was always more at ease with persons who had suffered 



80 H A N N A H M R E. 

the same loss with herself, he said that was a comfort she 
could seldom have, considering the superiority of his merit 
and the cordiality of their union. He bore his strong tes- 
timony of the liberality of Garrick. He reproved me with 
pretended sharpness for reading Pascal or any of the Port 
Koyal authors, alleging, that as a good Protestant, I ought 
to abstain from books written by Catholics. I was begin- 
ning to stand upon my defence, when he took me with 
both hands, and with a tear running down his cheeks, 
'Child,' said he, with the most affecting earnestness, 'I, 
am heartily glad that you read pious lx)oks, by whomso- 
ever they may be written.' '' 

" On Monday we had a f\irewell party at Mrs. Vesey's, 
where we were a little sad to think how many of us might 
never meet again, particularly poor Mrs. Vesey herself, 
who is going to Ireland at an advanced age, and in bad 
health." 

" On Tuesday, Mrs. Boscawen carried me to Glanvilla ; 
we had the pleasantest tete-a-tete day imaginable, and 
walked about and sat under the spreading oak, and eat 
our cold chicken, and drank our tea, as happy folks are 
wont to do." 

In June, Miss More returned to her sisters, taking Mrs. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 81 

Garrick with her, who remained a month at Bristol. 
Hannah stayed until December, when she again took up 
her abode in her friend's family. 

Sensibility, a short poem, which a good critic of our 
own day declares " should be printed in letters of gold," 
had been passed around in manuscript among her friends, 
at whose repeated and urgent request it was now pub- 
lished, in company with four sacred dramas. The poem 
was addressed to her friend, Mrs. Boscawen, and thus 
gracefully opens : — 

" Accept, Boscawan ! these unpolished lays, 
Nor blame too much the verse you cannot praise. 
For you far other bards have waked the string, 
Far other bards for jou were wont to sing : 
Yet on the gale their parting music steals, 
Yet your charmed ear the lov'd impression feels ; 
You hear the lyres of Littleton and Young, 
And this a grace and that a seraph strung," 

"What says my dear Miss More?" writes she, from Gkui- 
villa, on learning that her name was in the golden touch 
of the poet ; " that she has addressed her charming poem 
of ' Sensibility' to one who has not a grain of that pleas- 
ing, |»ainful quality ; and that, if she ever writes upon stu- 



82 HANNAH M O K E. 

pidity, she will with more propriety direct to the same 
quarter." 

And still later. "They are come out! the books I 
mean ; I have found them just now in the hall, a packet 
from Mr. Cadell : I had them brought up. ' I put in my 
thumb and pulled out a plumb :' viz., I drew out one all 
sewed in yellow, as I directed, and while Ayre is carefully 
cutting the leaves, I sit down to write to the founder of the 
feast." 

On the feast the founder herself writes to her sisters — 

"The word sacred in the title is a damper in the 
dramas. It is tying a mill-stone about the neck of Sensi- 
bility, which will drown them both together. I was one 
night at a large Blue Stocking party, at the l^ishop of St. 
Asaph's — all the old set were there, which sickness and 
death have spared. 

" Bishop Lowth has just finished the Dramas, and sent 
me word, that although I have paid him the most swin- 
ging comphraent he ever received, he likes the whole book 
more than he can say. But the Bishop of Chester's coni- 
phment is more solid ; he said he thought it would do 
a vast deal of good — and that is the praise best worth 
having." 

"Mrs. Montagu, Chapone, and Carter, are mightily 



COKKESi'UlS'JJENCE. 83 

pleased, that I have attacked that uiock feeling and sensi- 
bility, which is at once the boast and disgrace of these 
times, and which is equally deficient in taste and truth. 
Ask Dr. Stonehouse if he has read " Cardiphonia," by 
Mr. Newton, of Olney. There is in it much vital religion, 
and much of the experience of a good Christian, who feels 
and laments his own imperfections and weaknesses. I 
have just finished six volumes of Jortin's sermons ; elegant, 
but cold and very low in doctrine — 'plays round the 
head, but comes not to the heart' — Cardiphonia does; I 
like it much, though not every sentiment or expression 
that it contains." 

"On Monday, I was at a very great assembly at the 
Bishop of St. Asaph's. Conceive to yourself one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred people met together, dressed in 
the extremity of fashion ; painted as red as bacchanals ; 
poisoning the air with perfumes ; treading on each other's 
gowns ; making the crowd they blame ; not one in ten 
able to get a chair; protesting they are engaged to ten 
other places, and lamenting the fatigue they are not 
obliged to endure; ten or a dozen card-tables crammed 
with dowagers of quality, grave ecclesiastics, and yellow- 
admirals ; and you have an idea of an assembly. I never 



84 H A N N A H M O K E. 

go to such things when I can possibly avoid it, and stay, 
when there, as few minutes as I can." 

London, 1182. 
"Poor Johnson is in quite a bad state of health : I fear 
his constitution is broken up ; I am quite grieved at it ; he 
will not leave an abler defender of religion and virtue be- 
hind him, and the following little touch of tenderness 
which I heard of him last night from one of the Turk's 
Head Club, endears him to me exceedingly. There are 
always a great many candidates ready, when any vacancy 
happens in that club, and it requires no small interest and 
reputation to get elected ; but, upon Gan-ick's death, when 
numberless applications were made to succeed him, Johnson 
was deaf to them all ; he insisted there should be a year's 
widowhood in the club before they thought of any new 
election. In Dr. Johnson some contrarieties harmoniously 
meet ; if he has too little charity for the opinions of others, 
and too little patience with their faults, he has the greatest 
tenderness for their persons. He told me, the other day, 
he hated to hear people whine about metaphysical dis- 
tresses, when there were so much want and hunger in the 
world." 

" Mrs. Carter and I met at a little breakfast-party with 



CT O U R E S P O N D E N C E. 86 

a French lady, who writes metaphysical books. We got 
into disgrace by saying that a little common sense and a 
little scripture would lead one much farther and safer than 
volumes of metaphysics. She forgave us, however, on 
condition we would read two huge quartos which she had 
just translated. What Mrs. Carter will do, I know not, 
but I shall certainly never fulfil my part of the contract." 

Tn June Hannah makes a summer flitting to the Ken- 
nicott's, at Oxford, where she met Dr. Johnson, sad, sick, 
and disconsolate, suffering deeply from the manifold infir- 
mities of life. 

The death of his friend, Mr. Thralc, which had occurred 
the year before, whose generous hospitality had cheered 
his heart and alleviated his sufferings, and whose eye for 
fifteen years, as Johnson tenderly says, " had scarcely been 
turned upon him, but with respect and tenderness," had 
left a void, which even the multiplied resources of his inner 
and outer hfe had failed to fill up ; " and such another 
friend, the general course of human things will not suffer 
man to hope," he moui-nfully adds, " In our walk through 
hfe, we have dropped our companions, and are now to pick 
up such as chance may offer to us, or travel alone. As the 
long shadows of age and ill health crept over his path, Dr. 
Johnson felt the want of those home affections, which are 



86 HANNAHMORE. 

our best earthly heritage, and which, when the busy inter- 
ests of early and middle life are over, bear us gently and 
patiently in their bosom to our final rest. 

In a journey to Oxford, at this time, undertaken for the 
benefit of his health and spirits, the Doctor met Miss More, 
who, grieved at his wan and dejected appearance, made 
eveiy eflfort to beguile him from his suflferings. The mem- 
ory of early days quickened the old man. Eloquent, as in 
her company he retraced the haunts of his college com- 
panions ; on entering a hall, a fine large print of Johnson, 
Jiandsoraely framed, stared upon the party from the oppo- 
site wall, with the appended motto, 

"and is not JOHNSON OURS, HIMSELF A HOST?" 

[From Miss More's Sensibility.] 

A pleasing surprise prepared by Dr. Adams, Master of 
Pembroke, for his distinguished guests. 

The Doctor remained but a short time ; a few beams 
from the light of eaily years shot across his path, but they 
could not renew the warm hopes of youth, or hghten the 
ijifirmities of age. 

London, March, 1783. 
" On Friday I was at a very fine party at Lady Rothes', 
where I found a vast many of my friends— Mr^. Montagu, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



87 



Boscawen, Carter, Thrall, Burney, and Lady Dartry ; iu 
bhort, it was remarked that there was not a woman in 
London, who has been distinguished for taste and litera- 
ture, that was absent. The men were modest and 
were abashed, the other sex made so strong a party." 

" I should be glad to know what our friend Dr. Stone- 
house would say to such new-fashioned doctrines as I have 
lately heard in a charity sermon by a dignified ecclesiastic, 
and a popular one too, but I will not tell his name : he 
told the rich and great that they ought to be extremely 
liberal in their charities, because they were happily ex- 
empted from the severer virtues. How do you like such a 
sentiment from a christian teacher? What do you think 
Poly carp or Ignatius would say to it V 

March 27. 
" I went and sat the other morning with Dr. Johnson, 
who is far from well. Our conversation was very interest- 
ing, but so many came in that I began to feel foolish, and 
soon sneaked off." 

May 5th. 
" Saturday we had a dinner at home, Mrs. Carter, Miss 
Hamilton, the Kennicotts, and Dr. Johnson. Poor John- 
sun exerted himself exceedingly, but he was very ill, and 



88 H A N N A II M O R E. 

looked so dreadfully, it quite grieved me. His sickness 
seems to have softened bis mind, without at all weakening 
it. We had but a small party of such of his friends as we 
knew would be most agreeable to him ; and as we were all 
very attentive, and paid him the homage he both expects 
and deserves, he was very communicative, and of course 
instructive and dehghtful in the highest degree." 

May 22. 

" A visitor is just gone, quite chagrined that I am such 
a rigid Methodist, that I cannot come to her assembly on 
Sunday, though she })rotGsts with great piety, that she 
7iever has cards, and that it is quite savage in me to think 
there can be any harm in a little agreeable music." 

While Hannah was at her sisters' in Bristol, during 1*784, 
she became greatly interested for a poor woman in the 
neighborhood, who, from the depth of famine and distress, 
had exhibited striking poetic talent. On a minute inquiry 
into her situation, it was ascertained that she could only 
read and write. Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts, 
a few plays of Shakspeare, and the Bible, constituted her 
small stock of reading. Having given her some rules in 
the art of w^riting, Hannah encouraged her to prepare a 
small volume of poems, to aid in the )-uppurt of a family 



CORRESPONDENCE. g9 

dependent upon her exertions. The work having been 
completed, she enlisted her friends in its piibhcation. " I 
should have taken as much pain as pleasure in the fine 
stanzas you sent me," responds Mrs. Montagu, " if yon 
had not at the same time assured me you had taken care 
this noble creature should not want the little comforts of 
life. I shall most joyfully contribute towards procuring 
them for htr — far, far away, all heathen ethics and mythol- 
ogy, geometry, and algebra, and make room for the Bible 
and Milton, when a poet is to be made." 

Nearly £500 were raised upon the book, which were 
placed in the hands of trustees, and invested in the public 
funds for the use of herself and family : enraged that the 
sum was not placed at her own disposal, she turned 
against her benefactor with the utmost bitterness of spirit, 
and accused her of having eml>ezzled it. So outrageous 
was her conduct, that no one would hold the trust, and the 
money fell into her own hands, only to be idly squandered, 
and she died at last, destitute and friendless. Of her in- 
gratitude, Hannah writes to Miss Carter : " I grieve for 
poor fallen human nature ; for as to my own particular 
part, I am persuaded Providence intends me good by it. 
Had she turned out well, I should have had my reivard ; 
as it is, I have my trial. Perhaps I w^as too vain of my 



90 H A N N A II M O R E. 

success, and in counting over the money, miglit be elated 
and think — Is not this great Babylon that / have 
built?" 

Two Httle poems which had been passed around among 
her friends in manuscript, were now published. The Bas 
Bleu and Florio. Florio, a pleasing satire on men and 
manners, was dedicated to Horace Walpole : " It is a 
paltry return," she writes to him, " for the many hours of 
agreeable information and elegant amusement which I 
have received from your spirited and very entertaining 
writings, and yet I am persuaded you will receive it with 
favor, as a small offering of esteem and gratitude." 

The Bas Bleu, a little poem, already mentioned, com- 
memorative of the gatherings which bore that name, was 
addressed to Mrs. Yesey, whose celebrated tact in break- 
ing up the formality of a circle, and making her parties 
form themselves into httle groups, is thus sung in poetic 
numbers : 

"Small were thai art which could ensure 
The cu-cle's boasted quadrature ! 
See Vesey's plastic genius make 
A circle every figure take ; 
Nay, shapes and forms that would defy 
All science of geometry ; 



CORRESPONDENCE. 91 

Isosceles and parallel, 

Names hard to speak and hard to spell; 

The enchantress waved her wand and spoke ! 

Her potent wand the circle broke; 

The social spirits hover round, 

And bless the liberated ground. 

Ask you what charms this gift dispense ? 

'Tis the strong spell of common sense. 

Away dull ceremony flew, 

And with her bore Detraction too." 

Another of Miss More's friends, and one of the world's 
grecat men, was now drawing near to the grave. " Poor, 
dear Johnson," she writes, " is past all hope. I have, 
however, the comfort to hear that his dread of dying is in 
a great measure subdued. He sent the other day for Sir 
Joshua, and after much sei'ious conversation, told him he 
had three favors to beg of him, and he hoped he would 
not refuse a dying friend, be they what they would. Sir 
Joshua promised. The first was, that he would never 
paint on Sunday : the second, that he would give him £30 
that he had lent him, as he wanted to leave them to a 
distressed family : the third, that he would read the Bible 
whenever he had an opportunity, and that he would never 
omit it on Sunday." 



02 H A N N A H M O R E. 

How august and solemn are the closing scenes of this 
dying man! He is styled the Moralist. Justice, truth, 
virtue — ^I'ough, unhewn, without chisel or polish, — were tlie 
pillars of his character ; at all times, and in all places, he 
was loyal to his convictions of duty, generous, yet plain- 
spoken to his fellows, reverent towards God. Hicli in 
knowledge, he abused it not ; rich in thought, he scattered 
its treasures like dew-drops ; rich in speech, it was like the 
golden harvest: in the wide grasp of his clear, calm, com- 
prehensive mind, he everywhere discovered a moral gov- 
ernment, and recognized a righteous governor : his con- 
science, unseared by passion or self-indulgence, spoke 
solemn!}', and was heard : the fear of God was upon him : 
but now, as the curtains of death close around his brave 
heart and unclouded intellect, he lies helpless, wresthng for 
hope, panting for peace, raising his eyes with a fearful 
looking for of judgment into the eternal world. " The 
approach of death is dreadful," he exclaims. " I am afraid 
to think on that which I know I cannot avoid. It is vain 
to look round and round for that help which cannot be 
had, yet we hope and hope, and fency that he who has 
hved to-day, may live to-morrow\ No wise man will be 
contented to die, if he thinks he is going into a state of 
punishment. Nay, no wise man will be contented to die, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 93 

if he thinks he is to fall into annihihition ; for, however 
unhappy any man's existence may be, yet he would rather 
have it than not exist at all. No : there is no rational 
principle by which a man can die contented, but a trust in 
the mercy of God, through the merits of Jesus Christ." 

And yet, when one said to hira in an hour of gloomy 
despondency, "you forget the merits of your Redeemer," 
he replied with deep solemnity, "I do not forget the merits 
of my Redeemer, but my Redeemer has said. He ivill set 
some on his right hand and some on his leftr 

" What man," he asks, with mournful distrust, " can say 
that his obedience has been such as he could approve of in 
another, or that his repentance has not been such as to 
require being repented of V 

" Remember what you have done by your writings in 
defence of virtue and truth," urged his friends. 

"Admitting all you say to be true," answered the 
dying hero, " how can I tell when / have done enough .^" 

An awful question, who can answer it ? 

At last, he described the kind of clergyman whom he 
wished to see. Mr. Winstanley was named, and a note 
was despatched requesting his attendance to the sick man's 
chamber. Through ill-health and nervous apprehension, 
the clergyman could reply only in writing. " Permit me, 



94 11 A N N A H M O R E. 

therefore," ran tlie note, " to write what I should wish to 
say, were I present. I can easily conceive what would be 
the subjects of your inquiry. I can conceive that the views 
of yourself have changed with your condition, and that on 
the near approach of death, what you considered mere 
peccadilloes, have risen into mountains of guilt, while your 
best actions have dwindled into nothing. On whichever 
side you look, you see only positive transgression, or defect- 
ive obedience; and hence, in self-despair, are eagerly 
asking, ' What shall I do to be saved V I say to you in 
the language of the Baptist, ' Behold the Lamb of God.' " 

" Does he say so ?" exclaimed the anxious listener. 
"Read it again. Sir John." Upon the second reading, 
Dr. Johnson declared, " I must see that man, write again 
to him." 

A second letter was the reply, enlarging and enforcing 
upon the subject of the first : " These, together with the 
conversation of a pious fiiend, Mr. Latrobe, appear to have 
been blessed of God," continues one in a letter to Hannah 
More, " in bringing this great man to a renunciation of 
self, and a simple reliance on Jesus as his Saviour ; thus 
also communicating to him that peace which he had found 
the world could not give, and which, when the world was 
fiiding from his view, was to fill the void, and dissipate the 



CORRESPONDENCE. 95 

gloom even of the valley of the shadow of death. The man 
whose intellectual powers had awed all around him, was in 
turn made to tremble, when the period arrived, when all 
knowledge is useless and vanishes away, except the knowl- 
edge of the true God and of Jesus Christ whom he has 
sent. To attain this knowledge, this giant in knowledge 
must become a little child. The man looked up to as a 
prodigy of wisdom, must become a fool, that he might be 
wise." 

" For some time before his death, all his fears were 
calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith and 
his trust in the merit and propitiation of Jesus Christ," 
testifies Dr. Brocklesby. 

"My dear doctor, believe a dying man," exclaimed 
Johnson, " there is no salvation but in the Lamb of God." 

" How dehghted should I be," said Hannah More, " to 
hear the dying discourse of this great and good man, es- 
pecially now that faith has subdued his fears." 

What teaching is here ! No amount of outwcird obedi- 
ence, neither gift of mind nor greatness of character, neither 
fair fame nor good works, quench the restless fears and dis- 
tressing doubts which fill the heart, v/hen earthly objects 
begin to fade before eternal reahties. The shrinking soul 
dares not trust itself; those things in which it delighted — - 



9G HANNAH MORE. 

the old walls and familiar haunts, the green earth and 
l-)leasant sunshine, the strong Hmbs and kindly warmth of 
neighbors and friends, well-earned fame, and hard-wrought 
achievements, the well-known and dearly-cherished envi- 
ronment of its earthly tabernacle is passing away : passing 
away, and what is left but the conscious burden of frailty, 
of short-coming, of guilt. If the soul, thus abused and 
abandoned, becomes lowly and trusting as the little child, 
it hears the gracious pleading of its Saviour, " Come unto 
me, weary and heavy-laden one, and I will give you rest. 
I am the way, the truth, and the life." Then appear the 
perfectness and sufficiency of redeeming love. " Except ye 
be converted and become as a little child, ye cannot enter 
the kingdom of God." 

"The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the 
haughtiness of man shall be laid low, and the Lord alono 
shall be exalted in that day." 



CHAPTER YIL 

(Cnin0li|i §xnn. 

Hitherto, Miss More had had many haunts ; she had 
dwelt in the hearts, and by the hearths of many well- 
beloved friends : sometimes we find her at Sandleford 
Priory, the country retreat of Mrs. Montagu, whose neigh- 
borhood abounded with the most smiling valleys, the 
clearest living streams, and the most lovely hanging woods 
imaginable, — so says the guest : her winters were chiefly 
passed between the Adelphi and Hampton, which is "so 
clean, so green, so flowery, so bowery :" sometimes she is 
brushing the dust off the blue stockings at a splendid din- 
ner at Straflbrd Place, or at a quiet evening at Berkley 
Square, with no other company but " dear Mrs. Carter ;" 
lastly, she is nestling with the sisterhood at Bristol. This 
changeful and desultory life, as it seems to be, was neither 
aimless nor unimproved ; though Miss More had now 
nearly reached her fortieth year, and as yet had produced 
little but a few poems, whose chief attractions were their 
9 



98 H A N N A H M O R E. 

jocal and personal interest, she had not looked idly or too 
fondly on the diversified scenes of men and manners pass- 
ing around her ; from these ample opportunities of under- 
standing the moral defects of English society, she was 
marshalling her focts and strengthening those principles 
which enabled her afterwards to speak so powerfully and 
successfully in the parlors and palaces of England. 

The death of Garrick had deeply impressed her earnest 
and thoughtful mind. It made an abrupt and solemn 
pause in her social and intellectual enjoyments. His 
taste and genius, his sympathy and interest, delighted and 
dazzled her. Her literary tastes were banqueted ; the 
amplest opportunities to enlarge and cultivate her powers, 
were placed at her disposal, and more than all, she is en- 
couraged by one so gifted in the drama, to enter that field 
of hterature, towards which she seems to have had a 
strong and early bias : nay, she had entered the lists, and 
Percy had been crowned with laurels. 

Garrick died ; it was the first death in the brilliant 
circle which had first welcomed her to London, and it left 
a void never to be filled. In the long shadow which it 
cast over his home and haunts, Hannah sat and thought. 
She saw the fashion of the world, with its pomps and 
praises, passing away. Could these satisfy the hungerings 



COWSLIP GREEN. 99 

of the soul ? What was that greater good, worthy of the 
conseci-ated energies of the whole heart? She felt deep 
within her, that it was not all of life to live, nor all of 
death to die : a conviction that life had a wider sphere, 
nobler motives, higher aims, and more exalted hopes, than 
literary ambition or intellectual enjoyments could impart, 
fastened itself upon her. She saw accountability to God^ 
written as with a pen of fire upon her time and talents. 
In the devout sohtude of her closet, her solemnized spirit 
holds communion with eternal realities ; all earthly things 
seem paltry and worthless, compared with the favor of 
God ; she inquires, with serious earnestness, what is es- 
sential to duty and acceptance in Jesus Christ ; what arc 
the laws of holy living prescribed in his gospel ; how can 
the authority of conscience be maintained amid the con- 
flicts of passion, of sense, and of worldly engagements ; 
how run the christian race ; how win the heavenly prize ? 
The higher life of the soul began to dawn upon her. 

"I have naturally a small appetite for grandeur," she 
says, " which is always satisfied, even to indigestion, before 
I leave town, and I require a long abstinence to get any 
relish for it again ; yet, I repeat, there are very agreeable 
people, but, there is dress, there is restraint, there is want 



100 HANNAH MORE. 

of leisure, to which I find it more difficult to conform for 
any length of time — and Ufe is shortP 

One thing which greatly aided her in maintaining an 
habitual thoughtful ness of mind, amid the giddy disregard 
of sacred things in much of the society in which she mixed, 
was her strict observance of holy time. The Sabbath was 
always to her a day of rest ; rest from society, from visit- 
ing, from all worldly occupations and engagements : she 
used it, as designed to be used by its great author, a day 
of religious improvement, a means of holy living, sacred to 
God and eternal things. Wherever she was, in whatever 
company she happened to be, she was never afraid of ap- 
pearing singular, singular as it often did appear, 1)y a de- 
vout and respectful observance of the Lord's day. 

" You know I often told you," she wrote home, while a 
resident at the Adelphi, " that Sunday is not only my day 
of rest, but enjoyment ; I go twice to the churches where I 
expect the best preaching, frequently at St. Clement's, to 
hear my excellent friend Burrows. Mrs. Garrick declines 
asking company on Sunday on my account, so that I enjoy 
the whole day to myself. After my more select reading, I 
attack South, Atterbury, and Warburtou. In these great 
geniuses and original thinkers, I see many passages of 
Scripture presented in a strong and striking light. I think 



COWSLIP GREEN. 101 

it right to mix their learned labors with the devout effu- 
sious of more spiritual writers, Baxter, Doddridge, Hop- 
kins, Jeremy Taylor (the Shakspeare of divinity), and the 
profound Barrow in turn. I devour much, but I fear 
digest little. In the evening, I read a sermon and prayers 
to the family, which Mrs. Garrick likes much." 

Miss More had for some time gradually contracted her 
circle of acquaintance, confining her visits to smaller assem- 
blies and choicer friends. 

" I have kept my resolution," she says, " to avoid great 
crowds, except when I have been snared into one, under 
the alluring name of a little private party, into which trap 
I have fallen several times. On Saturday I got a sober 
day at Mrs. Montagu's, with only the Smelts', and we all 
agreed we had not been more comfortable for a long time ; 
and yet people rarely have the sense or courage to do 
these things, but must still meet in herds and flocks." 

She now began to yearn for a home of her own, where 
she could enjoy undisturbed retirement, hedged in from 
the great world, to pursue her course of thought, of read- 
ing, and of occupation, more in harmony with the natural 
simplicity of her tastes, and the progressive development of 
her religious character. When her purpose of doing so 
became known, the notion was assailed by ridicule and 

9^- 



102 HANNAH MORE. 

reasoning, and not a few agreed in her speedy and perma- 
nent return to London and Bristol. 

In spite of forebodings and dissuasives, Miss More, at 
length, fixed upon a small establishment in the parish of 
Wrington, ten miles from Bristol, and so secluded from 
the hum of the great world as to be unvisited even by 
the post. Here is a thatched roof cottage, the prettiest little 
hermitage that can be ; flowers edge the walks and fringe 
the green lawn, which slopes gently towards the south, di- 
versified by groups of shrubbery here and there, tastefully 
arranged, pleasing to the eye, and affording a refreshing 
shade from the noon-tide heats. Beyond, in the dusky 
distance, rises the Mendip Ridge, bold and grand. Behold 
Cowslip Green ; Horace Walpole calls it a cousin to 
Strawberry-Hill — a country cousin, one ftmcies. 

" I am fitting up a tiny boudoir at Cowslip Green," 
says the new mistress of the cottage, "which I intend 
shall contain no literature but the offerings of kindness : 
by this means, my imagination will convert my little 
closet into a temple of friendship ; and when the weather 
is bad, or my spirits low, what a cordial it will be to fancy 
that I am loved and esteemed by so many amiable and 
worthy people as there have contributed to my instruction 
and dehirht!" 



COWSLIP GREEN, 103 

" What book shall I send ?" asks Mr. Pepys, one of her 
friends and favorites. "To send you a skimming-dish 
or fish-kettle towards setting up house-keeping would be 
making too little distinction between you and the next 
good housewife in the parish ; but if you would be so 
good as to tell me any pleasant companion, who is not al- 
ready of your party, I should have particular pleasure in 
sending him, and should be very much flattered with the 
idea, that on some lonely evening he might recall me to 
your memory." 

"I am mightily at a loss," she humorously replies, 
" what book you will send. What think you of a cook- 
book ? No ! that won't do either, for it will introduce 
sauces and luxury, and all manner of cunningly devised 
dishes, and extravagant inventions into a little cottage 
devoted to simplicity, and from which aspiring thoughts 
and luxurious desires are to be entirely excluded. I 
should beg a wooden dish and maple spoon, but that it 
is pleasanter to one's friends to be remembered in one's 
more intellectual hours. Pray take notice, it must not be 
a Jlne^ neiu hooJc^ out of the shop ; that would destroy the 
charm, which lies in this, that the book must be trans- 
planted from the library of a friend." 

She afterwards wrote to the same gentleman : " After 



104 HANNAH MORE. 

living melodious days with Mrs. Montagu, the nightingales 
and Spenser, I have now been quietly set down in my cot- 
tage a month, and the evil days have not come, wherein 
you barbarously jDrophesied that I should feel a joy even 
to see the apothecary ride up to the door, — though it is 
certain I never do see hira without thinking of you. I do 
not express myself very accurately when I talk of living 
quietly ; for, in truth, my neighbors are so kind, and so 
many people have brought themselves into the description, 
that I am far from enjoying that perfect retreat, which I 
had figured to myself. I woik in my garden all the niorn- 
ing, and ride in the evening through delicious lanes and 
hills : my most serious studies have been a little book of 
Mrs. Trimmer's, that wise and j)leasant friend of little chil- 
dren, — it is a most delectable history of Robin Red- 
Breast." 

In relation to the temptations which clogged her 
spiritual progress, and disquieted her spirit in the new 
home which she had chosen, she thus expresses herself, to 
Rev. John Newton : — 

" The care of my garden gives me employment, health, 
and spirits. I want to know, dear sir, if it is peculiar to 
myself to form ideal plants of perfect virtue, and to dream 
of all manner of imaginary goodness in untried circum- 



COWSLIP GREEN. 105 

stances, while one neglects the immediate duties of one's 
actual situation ? Do I make myself undei*stood ? I have 
always fancied, that if I could secure to myself such a 
quiet retreat as I have now really accomphshed, I should 
be wonderfully good ; that I should have leisure to store 
my mind with such and such maxims of wisdom ; that 
I should be safe from such and such temptations ; that, in 
short, my whole summers would be smooth periods of 
peace and goodness. Now the misfortune is, I have ac- 
tually found a great deal of the comfort I expected, but 
without any of the concomitant virtues. I am certainly 
happier here than in the agitation of the world, but I do 
not find that I am one bit better ; with full leisure to rec- 
tify my heart and affections, the disposition unluckily does 
not come. I have the mortification to find that petty and 
(as they are called) innocent employments can detain my 
heart from heaven as much as tumultuous pleasures. If 
to the [)are all things are [)ure, the reverse must be also 
true, when I can contrive to make so harmless an employ- 
ment as the cultivation of flowers stand in the room of a 
vice, by the great portion of time I give up to it, and by 
the entire dominion it has over my mind. You will tell 
me that if the affections be estranged from their proper 
object, it signifies not much whether a bunch of roses or a 



106 HANNAH MORE. 

pack of cards affects it. I pass my life ia intending to get 
the better of this, but Hfe is passing away, and the reform 
never begins. It is a very significant saying, though a 
very old one, of one of the Puritans, that ' hell is paved 
with good intentions!' I sometimes tremble to think 
how large a square my procrastination alone may furnish 
to this tesselated pavement." 

" What you are pleased to say, my dear madam, of 
the state of your mind, I understand perfectly well," an- 
swers this good man, who well understood the deceitful- 
ness of the human heart ; " I praise God on your behalf, 
and I hope I shall earnestly pray for you. I have stood 
upon that ground myself 

" We are apt to wonder that, when what we accounted 
hindrances are removed, and the things which we con- 
ceived would be great advantages are put within our 
power, still there is a secret something in the way, which 
proves itself to be independent of all external changes, 
because it is not affected by them. The disorder we com- 
plain of is internal ; and in aHusion to our Lord's words 
upon another occasion, I may say, it is not anything in 
our outward situation (provided it be not actually unlaw- 
ful) that can prevent or even retard our advances in re- 



COWSLIP GKEEN. 107 

ligiou ; we are defiled and impeded by that which is 
within. So far as our hearts are right, all places and cir- 
cumstances which this wise and good providence allots us 
are nearly equal : their hindrances will prove helps ; losses, 
gains ; and crosses will ripen into comforts ; but till we 
are so far apprized of the nature of our disease as to put 
ourselves into the hands of the great and only Physician, 
we shall find, like the woman in Luke viii. 43, that every 
other eftbrt for relief will leave us as it found us. 

" Our first thought when we begin to be displeased with 
ourselves, and sensible that we have been wrong, is to 
attempt to reform ; to be sorry for what is amiss, and to 
endeavor to amend. It seems reasonable to ask, what 
can we do more? but while we think we can do so 
much as this, we do not fully understand the design of 
the gospel. This gracious message from the God who 
knows our frame speaks home to our case. It treats us 
as sinners — as those who have already broken the original 
law of our nature, in departing from God our creator, 
supreme lawgiver, and benefoctor, and of having lived to 
ourselves instead of devoting all our time, talents, and 
influence to his glory. As sinners, the first things we need 
are pardon, reconciliation, and a principle of life and con- 
duct entirelv new. 



108 HANNAH MORE. 

" For these purposes we are directed to Jesus Christ, as 
the wounded Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent. 
John iii. 14, 15. When we understand what the Scrip- 
ture teaches of the person, love, and offices of Christ, the 
necessity and final cause of his humiliation unto death, 
and feel our own need of such a Saviour, we then know 
him to be the light, the sun of the world and of the soul ; 
the source of all spiritual light, life, comfort, and influence ; 
having access by God to him, and receiving out of his 
fulness grace for grace. 

" Our perceptions of these thing-s are for a time faint and 
indistinct, hke the peep of dawn ; but the dawning light, 
though faint, is the sure harbinger of approaching day. 

"The beginnings of spiritual hfe are small in the true 
Christian ; he passes through a succession of various dis- 
pensations, but he advances, though silently and slowly, 
yet surely, and will stand forever. 

" At the same time, it must be admitted that the chris- 
tian life is a warfare. Much within us and much without 
us must be resisted. In such a world as this, and with 
such a nature as ours^ there will be a call for habitual 
self-denial. We. must learn to cease from depending 
upon our own supposed wisdom, power, and goodness, and 



COWSLIP GREEN. 100 

from self-complacency and self-seeking, that we may rely 
upon Him whose wisdom and power are infinite." 

What individual, earnestly striving for a better life, has 
not sighed over the clogs and hindrances which beset his 
path, and which he fondly imagines other situations are 
exempt from ; were this wish fulfilled, were that place 
attained, another goal reached, this obstacle removed, then 
how easy the yoke, how light the burden, how smooth 
the way ! Alas, no ! no situation is free from straits and 
perplexities, nowhere are we exempt from the necessity 
of watchfulness and combat. The evil is within us. " The 
thing's that we would, we do not, and the things that we 
would not, those we do." "The flesh lusteth against 
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are 
contrary the one to the other." In this perpetual conflict 
how can the victoiy be secured ? Only by watchfulne^ 
and prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

10 



CHAPTER VIII. 



FIRST FRUITS. 



From the time that CowsHp Green became her home 
in lYSS, may be dated higher views of duty, a more 
confirmed rehgious character and a clearer comprehension 
of her sphere of usefulness. As the retreat was not 
sought for day-dreaming leisure, her time was not whiled 
away in literary effeminacy, or her pen consecrated to 
fairy fancies or pleasing fictions. Hannah More soon 
found she had a work to do for the day and generation 
in which she lived, and she wrought courageously, pa- 
tiently, and with a full heart. 

The first fruit of C,-owslip Green was a small work, 
entitled, " Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners 
of the Great to General Society," an introductory chapter, 
as it were, to that elevated series of christian teaching, 
which her hfe and writings hereafter developed. 

It first appeared anonymously, " not so much for the 
fear of man," she says, '' which worketh a snare, as because? 



FIRST FRUITS. Ill 

if anonymous, it maj'' be ascribed to some better person, 
and because I fear I do not live as I write. I hope it 
may be useful to myself, at least as I give a sort of public 
pledge of my principles, to which I pray, I may be 
enabled to act up." 

It was at first attributed to Wilberforce, then to the 
Bishop of London. "While the author was yet unknown, 
the book being canvassed in her presence, she was 
abruptly asked, if she could conjecture who he could be. 
"Whoever the author may be, I doubt not the writer 
was in earnest," replied Miss More, with the utmost self- 
possession. But the authorship did not long remain a secret; 
while still in London, whither she had gone to superin- 
tend its publication, she received an anonymous epigram, 

" Of sense and religion in this little book, 
All agree there's a wonderful store ; 
But wliile round the world for an author they look, 
I only am wishing for More" 

This was her first attack upon the unchristian habits 
and minor immoralities of the age : her long and intimate 
acquaintance with the higher ranks of English society, for 
whom as the title indicates the book was expressly written, 
enabled her to write with truth and directness : phe knew 



112 HANNAH MORE. 

whereof she spake — "yet I have not gone deep," she 
says, " it is confined to prevailing practical evils — should 
this succeed, I hope by the blessing of God to attack the 
principle." Rev. Jolm Newton congratulates her upon 
the performance and especially the choice of a subject ; 
and it is a subject most admirably handled. She describes, 
with great clearness, the features and influence of that 
large class of negative characters, abounding in every 
community, which may be called c/ood sort of i^ojple ; 
people, who live v/ithin the restraints of moral obligation 
and acknowledge the truth of the christian religion, yet 
whose views terminate with this world's good, who are 
destitute of that first essential principle of human actions, 
which can alone render them of any value in the sight 
of God, faith in Christ. It is not so much what they do, 
but what they neglect to do, which constitutes, at once, 
the danger to themselves and others; it is the coming 
short which is so full of peril. Alas, how many such are 
there, all around, pleasant neighbors, generous friends, 
worthy citizens, whose prudence, kindness, integrity, hon- 
ored and respected by the world, constitute no claim to 
acceptance before that tribunal, which searches the heart, 
and has declared, " without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord." 



FIRST FRUITS. 113 

The habit of employing hair-dressers upon the Sabbath, 
of giving " card money" to servants, and requiring them 
to dismiss a visitor with "Not at home," Sunday Con- 
certs and Sunday diversions were each in turn commented 
upon and condemned in a spirit, at once, so kind, so 
candid, so decidtd, that the book commended itself alike to 
reason and consistency, and challenged a fair and impar- 
tial reading even from those most unwilling to abide by 
its decisions. 

On the next meeting with her friend and correspondent, 
Horace Walpole, he took her to task for having exhibited 
such monstrously severe doctrines. " He defended, and 
that was the joke," writes she to her sisters, " religion 
against me, and said he would do so against the whole 
bench of bishops — that the fourth commandment was the 
most amiable and merciful law that was ever promulgated, 
as it entirely considers the ease and comfort of the hard 
laboring poor and beasts of burden ; but that it was never 
intended for persons of fashion, who have no occasion for 
rest as they never do anything on the other days ; and 
indeed when the law was made there were no people of 
fashion. He really pretended to be in earnest, and we 
parted mutually unconverted ; he lamenting I had fallen 
into the error of puritanical strictness, and I lamenting he 
10* 



114 II A N N A II M O R E. 

is a person of fashion, for whom the ten commandments 
are not made !" 

The book made its ^Yay ; when the second edition was 
issued it sold in Httle more than a week ; the third in 
a few hours ; and seven large editions disappeared in a 
few months : extensively read and circulated, it did not 
fail to exercise a vast influence in the circles for whom 
it was chiefly intended ; its admonitions were heard and 
heeded ; several of these customs fell into disrepute, and at 
last were entirely abandoned. For these beneficial changes, 
society is indebted to Miss Hannah More. 

Two years afterwards an " li^stimate of the Religion of 
the Fashionable World" appeared, striking deep at the false 
principles which govern men in tlieir daily lives, and laying 
bare the inconsistencies and hollow professions of those who 
bore the christian name. 

The estimate is full of sound, clear, and dicriminating 
views, applicable quite as much to our time as it was to the 
spirit and tendencies of seventy years ago. 

" The present age," she says, " may justly be called the 
age of benevolence. Liberality flows with a full tide 
through a thousand channels. There is scarcely a news- 
paper that does not record some meeting of men of for- 
tune for the most salutary purposes. The noble and nura- 



FIRST FRUITS. 116 

berless structures for the relief of distress, which are the 
ornament and glory of our metropolis, proclaim species of 
munificence unknown to former ages. Subscriptions are 
easily solicited. 

"Allowing the boasted superiority of modern benev- 
olence, it might be well to inquire whether the diffusion of 
this branch of charity, though the most lovely offspring of 
religion, be yet any positive proof of the prevalence of re- 
ligious principle ? and whether it be not the fashion rather 
to consider benevolence as a substitute for Christianity than 
as an evidence of it ?" 

Are not these questions pertinent also to us, in our day ? 

" It seems to be one of the reigning errors among some," 
she continues, " to reduce all religion into benevolence, and 
all benevolence into alms-giving. The wide and compre- 
hensive idea of christian charity is compressed into the 
slender compass of a httle pecuniary relief. This species 
of benevolence is indeed a bright gem among the orna- 
ments of a Christian ; but by no means furnishes all the 
jewels of a crown, which derives its lustre from the associ- 
ated radiance of every christian grace. 

" The mere casual benevolence of any man can have 
little claim to solid esteem ; nor does any charity deserve 
the name, which does not grow out of a steady conviction 



116 HANNAH MORE. 

that it is his bounden duty ; which does not spring from a 
settled propensity to obey the whole will of God ; which is 
not therefore made a part of the general plan of his con- 
duct ; and which does not lead him to order the whole 
scheme of his affairs with an eye to it. 

" He therefore who does not habituate himself to certain 
interior restraints, who does not live in a regular course of 
self-renunciation, will not be likely often to perform acts of 
beneficence, when it becomes necessary to convert to such 
purposes any of that time or money which appetite, temp- 
tation, or vanity solicit him to divert to other purposes. 

" And surely he who seldom sacrifices one darling indul- 
o-ence, who does not subtract one gratification from the in- 
cessant round of his enjoyments, when the indulgence 
would obstruct his capacity of doing good, or when the 
sacrifice would enlarge his power, does not deserve the 
name of benevolent. And for such an unequivocal criterion 
of charity, to whom are we to look, but to the conscientious 
Christian ? No other spirit but that by which he is gov- 
erned, can subdue self-love : and where self-love is the pre- 
dominant passion, benevolence can have but a feeble, or an 
accidental dominion. 

" Now if we look around, and remark the excesses of 
luxury, the costly diversions, and the intemperate dissipa- 



FIRST FRUITS. Il7 

tion in which numbers of professing Christians indulge 
themselves, can any stretch of candor, can even that ten- 
der sentiment by which we are enjoined ' to hope' and to 
* believe all things,' enable us to hope and believe that 
such are actuated by a spirit of christian benevolence, 
merely because we see them perform some casual acts of 
charit}^, which the spirit of the world can contrive to make 
extremely compatible with a voluptuous life ; and the cost 
of which, after all, bears but little proportion to that of 
any one vice, or even vanity I' " 

The length of the extract will be pardoned on account 
of its excellence and appropriateness to our own time. 
The whole treatise is worthy of a thorough reading, re- 
plete as it is with sound sense and healthy piety, although 
there are allusions here and there, better befitting an Eng- 
lish audience than our own. The Bishop of London de- 
clared there were few persons in Great Britain who could 
write such a book, conveying so much sound, evangelical 
morality, and so much genuine Christianity, in such neat 
and elegant language, and predicted that the book would 
find its way into every fine lady's library, and if it did 
not into her heart and manners, the fault would be her own. 

A letter from Mrs. Chapone thus expresses her com- 
mendation : — 



118 HANNAH MO RK. 

" The same good gentleman, ray dear Madam, Avho some 
time ago gave his excellent thoughts to ' the Great,' has 
again made a powerful effort for their reformation, which 
they receive with as much avidity as if they meant to be 
amended by it : indeed he has wisely recommended 
it to their taste by every charm and ornament of 
eloquence. 

" He has been so obliging as to send me a copy of his 
admirable book, and as I do not know his name and ad- 
dress, I take the liberty of applying to you (who are, I be- 
lieve, pretty well acquainted with him, though probably 
not aware of half his merits), to beg you will convey to 
him my grateful acknowledgments for his favor, and as- 
sure him that he continually rises in ray esteem, by the 
faithful zeal with which he lays out the talents intrusted to 
him at the highest interest ; and I will venture to confess 
(gentleman though he be), that I sincerely love and honor 
him, and wish the most perfect success to all his laudable 
undertakings. 

" We long for you in town, my dear Miss More ; hasten 
and enjoy the applause your lay friend has gained, and to 
which his own heart must bear testimony." 

Two choice spirits had been added to her list of friends, 
Rev. John Newton and William Wilberforce, both of 



FIUST FliUITS. 119 

whom quickened her energies for the new and honorable 
career which opened before her. 

Of Wilberforce and the great subject that first linked 
them together, she thus writes to Mrs. Carter : — 

" This most important cause, the project to abolish the 
slave-trade in Africa, has very much occupied my thoughts 
this summer; the young gentleman, Mr. Wilberforce, who 
has embarked in it with the zeal of an apostle, has been 
much with me, and engaged all my little interest, and all 
my afiections in it. It is to be brought before Parliament 
in the spring. Above one hundred members have prom- 
ised their votes. My dear fiiend, be sure to canvass every- 
body who has a heart. It is a subject too ample for a 
letter, and I shall have a great deal to say to you on it 
when we meet. To my feelings it is the most interesting 
subject which was ever discussed in the annals of hu- 
liianity." 

Similarity of pursuits and sentiments soon drew the two 
together, and laid the foundations of an intimacy, whoso 
delightful and improving interchanges proved not only a 
source of strength and comfort to themselves, but a foun- 
tain of blessings to others. 

At twenty-six Wilberforce was a member of Parliaraentj 
master of an ample fortune, surrounded by friends and flat- 



120 HANNAH MORE. 

terers, treading a path thickly strown with temptations, 
pleasures, vices, all tending to corrupt the morals, and 
mislead the judgment. On a continental tour to recruit 
during a recess of Parliament, in company with a friend, 
a little book became also the companion of their journey ; 
a little book which asked no favors, uttered no flatteries, 
and could expect little, countenance from one like Wilber- 
force. "It is one of the best little books ever written 
though," spake his friend, who revered its bravery and 
truth, though he had no mind to obey its dictates. Wil- 
berforce unwittingly said, " Let us read it then;" and so 
the two journeyed and read. " I will search the Scrip- 
tures and see if these things are so," resolved Wilberforce, 
as he read and was astonished. The book was Doddridge's 
Rise and Progress of Religion, whose apj^eals and per- 
suasions, whose rebukes and denunciations, the young man 
found were recorded and reiterated on every page of the 
])ible. Wilberforce saw his danger, and fled for refuge to 
tlie cross of Christ. 

Immediately on his return to England, he sought the 
spiritual guidance of John Newton. Wilberforce soon ap- 
peared a changed man, a living epistle of the grace of 
God, known and read of all men. In his consecration to 
the service of his Divine Master, there was no reserve or 



FIRST FRUITS. 121 

compromise : he gave up himself and his all : " Hence- 
forth let me do with my might while the day lasts," was 
the sleepless endeavor of his life. 

A society for the reformation of public morals was soon 
on foot through his instrumentality, which helped greatly 
to check the spread of blasphemous and indecent publica- 
tions, and was the source w^hence sprang many kindred 
schemes for the public good. 

But the abolition of the Slave-trade was the great work 
which must immortalize Wilberforce, and at twenty-eight, 
1787, he began to devote himself to its interests. While 
making a short sojourn at Bath, for the benefit of its 
waters during the autumn of this year, he records of 
himself, "T believe one cause of my having fallen so short 
is my having aimed no higher. Remember, thy situation 
abounding in comforts requires th.ee to be pecuharly on 
thy guard, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, thou 
forgettest God" — ^yet Miss More who passed much time in 
his society at this time declares, "This young gentleman's 
character is one of the most extraordinary I ever knew for 
talents, virtue, and piety. It is difficult not to grow wiser 
and better every time one converses with him." 

The enormities of the Slave Traffic had for a long time 
attracted the attention of thouo-htful and feeling minds 



I2'2 HANNAH MOKE. 

both in England and America. Seven years before, Mr. 
Burke had almost determined to bring the subject before 
the English Parliament, having sketched a bill to provide 
for the immediate amelioration of its severities and its 
ultimate extinction ; — the plan however he abandoned, 
from a conviction that it would prove an unpopular and 
ruinous measure for his party. 

Meanwhile facts were collected and arguments adduced 
to arouse and inform the public mind; in May 1*787, 
several gentlemen met together in London and formed 
themselves into a committee to collect information and 
raise funds for promoting the abolition of the trade ; over 
this body, Granville Sharpe presided, while Clarkson, as 
their agent, was in the field with all his quenchless ardor, 
bringing out from their dark dens, facts and truths, re- 
specting the traffic, which curdled the blood and almost 
awakened the distrust of every English reader, yet it had 
struck its roots into the commercial interests of the country, 
and hundreds were ready to defend it. 

And now the subject nmst be laid before Parliament — • 
where is the man of moral mettle, to undertake it ? No 
man of party connection or political ambition dared en- 
gage in a work of such doubtful and dangerous issues. 
It must be undertaken at his own peril, depending alone 



FIRST FRUITS. 123 

on the righteousness of his cause, for commercial power 
and self-interest, wealth and long usage were all against it 
A man must do it from God's imposition and for humani- 
ty's sake. AYilberforee was the man. How bravely he 
battled, and how glorious the issue, the world knows well. 

Among the publications of the day to arouse and enlist 
the public sympathies, " The Slave Trade," a little poem, 
issued from the pen of Hannah More. 

The muse in impassioned strains thus exclaims : — 

" What wrongs, what injuries does Oppression plead, 
To smooth the crime and sanctify the deed ? 
What strange offence, what aggravated sin ? 
Tliey stand convicted — of a darker skin ! 
Barbarians, hold ! the opprobrious commerce spare, 
Respect His sacred image which they bear. 
Though dark and savage, ignorant and blind, 
They claim the common privilege of kind ; 
Let malice strip them of each other plea, 
They still are men, and men should still be free. 
Insulted Reason loathes th' inverted trade — 
Loathes, as she views the human purchase made; 
The outraged goddess, with abhorrent eyes, 
Sees man the traffic, souls the merchandise 1" 



CHAPTER IX. 

lahnrs miiniig i\)t ^.^nnr— liuikti Irtinnli 

On New Year's day of 1789, Miss More is dining at 
Berkley-square, Mrs. Montagu having assembled around 
her a few of the Bleus, among whom we recognize the 
familiar face of Mrs. Boscawen. 

Mrs. Vesey, who made one of this brilliant circle on 
Hannah's first introduction to London, was now in that 
state of suffering, which left one nothing to hope — her 
mind was gone. 

" Ah," sighed Miss More, on visiting her, " it is melan- 
choly to look at this house where I have seen so many 
agreeable people, and heard so much pleasant conversation, 
and made so many friendships, and think that its mistress 
is bereft of her faculties. What a call for serious reflec- 
tion ! I want to get my heart more affected with feeling 
for the sorrows of others, and with gratitude for my own 
mercies." 

She soon after went down to Hampton, where she had 



LABORS AMONG THE POOR. 126 

as yet endeavored to pass a few weeks, each vear, to cheer 
the widowed heart of Mrs. Garrick. The exciting topic of 
the spring- was the slave question, which was about to be 
laid before Parliament. Wilberforce went down to Teston, 
at Sir Charles Middleton's country seat, to consult his 
advisers and marsbal his forces for the approaching debate. 
" He with the whole junto of abolitionists are slaving it till 
two o'clock every morning," declares Mrs. Bouverie. " I 
hope Teston will be the Runnymede of the negroes," 
ejaculates Miss More, "and the great charter of African 
liberty will be completed — the fate of Africa now trembles 
in the balance." 

On the 12th of May, in a speech of three hours of 
surpassing eloquence, Wilberforce opened the debate in 
the House of Commons, denouncing the slave-trade as a 
national iniquity and tracing with masterly power its de- 
structive effects upon Africa, upon its victims and upon the 
colonies ; viewed from his own stand point, not political 
advancement or party tactics, but from the elevated height 
of a common humanity and christian civilization, he beheld 
its horrors and injustice in all their length and breadth and 
depth, and his own soul glowed with the magnitude of the 
subject. Pitt, Burke, and Fox, gave him a strong and 
eloquent support, each unanimously declaring that the 



126 HANNAH MOKE. 

slave-trade was the disgrace and opprobrium of the coun- 
try, and that nothing but its entire abohtion could satisfy 
the demands of justice and the appeals of humanity. It 
was deemed a glorious night for England. Principles 
familiar to us as household words were then broached as 
dangerous and startling innovations, and were met by a 
powerful opposition from the callous, the timid, and the 
self-interested. 

Miss More soon left these exciting scenes for a June 
flitting at Rosedale, Mrs. Boscawen's new villa at Rich- 
mond, " And I am sitting," she closes a letter to Martha, 
" on the very seat whei'e Thomson wrote his Seasons." 
The abode of the poet was a simple cottage in Kevv-foot 
Lane on the banks of the Thames. It was purchased at 
his death by George Ross, Esq., who enlarged and beauti- 
fied it, reverently preserving whatever he consistently could 
of the old domain. At his death, the property fell to 
Mrs. Boscawen. There was the Bard's favorite seat in 
the alcove under the old elm-tree, and there a little walnut 
table, where Thomson sang the seasons and their change : 
and may we not suppose that fancy lent enchantment to 
the scene, as the friends lingered in the alcove, heard the 
warblings of the thrush, and gazed upon the summer beau- 
ties of the landscape, which inspired the heart of the poet ? 



LABORS AMOXO THE POOR. 127 

The remainder of the season \yas diversified by a visit to 
Sandleford, whose Gothic windows, Grecian wit and British 
oaks, could not ward off five days of unrelenting head- 
ache, to which Miss More from early life was subject; 
then a sail down the river Wye, in company with her 
pleasant and excellent friends Mr. and Miss Wilberforce, 
looking at abbeys and castles, enjoying at once the benefits 
of improving conversation and the charms of most beauti- 
ful and interesting scenery ; we find her next at Stoke, 
dwelling in sober magnificence with a certain Dowager 
Duchess, where a little more discretion and a little less 
fancy were proper and decorous, as she tells us. 

Hannah and Martha are now at Cowslip Green : the 
retreat is enlivened by a day from Mrs. Montagu, a week 
from Mrs. Garrick, both of whom came to try the benefit 
of Bath waters, and a fortnight from Mrs. Kennicott, 
" who with wonderful readiness accommodated herself 
to the quiet, simple life of their Httle cottage ;" then 
came a vacation week from the elder sisterhood, and last, 
though not least, the Wilberforces made a ramble to the 
Green. 

Among the interesting features of the surrounding 
scenery, rose the bold and romantic Cliffs of Cheddar, 
tbrming a picturesque perspective towards the south ten 



128 HANNAH MORE. 

miles from Cowslip Green. Among these cliffs were scenes 
of wild beauty and solemn grandeur, yawning caverns, 
damp hollows and bald peaks, which made them the 
summer resort of many a traveller in quest of sublime and 
imposing scenery. 

The sisters begged Wilberforce not to leave Wrington 
without a visit to these wonders of the region. Patty was 
eloquent, and urged the gratification which the drive would 
afford to a mind like his : a day was fixed — then given 
up ; the Cliffs were again discussed at the breakfast-table, 
the next morning, until their guest was prevailed upon 
to go. 

On his return, Patty ran into the parlor, triumphantly 
inquiring, " How he hked the Cliffs ?" 

" Very fine," he replied ; '' but the poverty and distress 
of the people are dreadful." 

" This was all that passed," said Patty, in relating the 
circumstance. " Wilberforce soon retired to his room, and 
dismissed even his reader. I said to Hannah and his sif- 
ter that I feared he was not w^ell. The cold chicken and 
•wine put into the carriage for his dinner, was returned un- 
touched. Mr. Wilberforce appeared at supper, seemingly 
refreshed with a higher feast than we had sent with him. 
The servant, at his desire, was dismissed, when immediately 



LABORS AMONG THE POOR. 129 

he began : ' Miss Hauiiah More, something must be done 
for Cheddar.' 

" He then gave us a particular account of his day, of the 
inquiries he had made respecting the j^oor : there was no 
resident minister, no manufactory, nor did there appear 
any dawn of comfort, either temporal or spiritual. The 
possibiHty and method of assisting them was discussed till 
a late hour : it was then decided in a few words, by Mr. 
Wilberforce's exclaiming, ' If you will be at the trouble, I 
will be at the expense.' 

"Something commonly called an impulse, crossed my 
heart, that told me it was God's work, and it would do : 
and though I never have, and probably never shall recover 
the same emotion, yet it is my business to water it with 
watchfulness. 

" Mr. Wilberforce and his sister left us in a day or two. 
We turned many schemes in our head every possible way ; 
at length those measures were adopted, which led to the 
formation of the different schools." 

The Cliffs of Cheddar, at this time, were inhabited by a 
squahd, ignorant, half-savage people, dweUing in the caves 
and fissures of the rocks, and earning a miserable subsist- 
ence by selling roots, stalactites, and other mineral pro- 
ductions of the place, to travellers who came hither, 



130 HANNAH MORE. 

and recounting also the legends with which the region 
abounds. 

The hearts of the sisters, we may suppose, had already 
yearned over the destitution and wretchedness of this for- 
lorn race, thus hanging as it were on the skirts of civiliza- 
tion : for they readily and joyfully responded to the call. 
Home missionary work of this kind was then comparatively 
new ; though Robert Raikes had begun to bless Gloucester 
with the Sunday-school, and two hundi-ed and fifty thou- 
sand children were already enjoying its privileges, yet the 
inestimable benefits of the institution were not yet widely 
extended or fully realized ; old Brentford also was reaping 
a harvest of good from the warm-hearted eftbrts of good 
Mrs. Trimmer, who had established, and was superintend- 
ing a system of moral instruction, whereby large numbers 
of poor children had been reclaimed from idleness and vice. 
These eflforts had received Hannah More's cordial sym- 
pathy and warm approval: a similar field was now spread 
out before her ; a sphere of active usefulness, unlike any 
which she had hitherto occupied, invited her attention, and 
appealed to her christian love. She resolved upon imme- 
diate action. Accompanied by Patty, she is soon explor- 
ing the region, a graphic account of which she gives in a 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 131 

letter to Wilberforce, while still on the tour, dated from 
George Hotel, Cheddar. 

" Though this is but a romantic place, as my friend 
Matthew w^ell observed, yet you would laugh to see the 
bustle I am in. I was told that we should meet with 
great opposition if I did not try to propitiate the chief 
despot of the village, who is very rich and very brutal : so 
I ventured into the den of this monster, in a country as 
savage as himself, near Bridgewater. He begged that I 
would not think of bringing any religion into the country : 
it was the worst thing in the world for the poor, it made 
them lazy and useless. In vain I represented to him, that 
they would be more industrious as they were better prin- 
cipled ; and that, for my own part, I had no selfish views 
in what I was doing. He gave me to understand that he 
knew the world too well to believe either the one or the 
other. Somewhat dismayed to find that my success bore 
no proportion to my submissions, I was almost discouraged 
from more visits ; but I found that friends must be secured 
at all events ; for if these rich savages set their faces 
against us, and influenced the poor people, I saw that 
nothing but hostilities would ensue ; so I made eleven 
more of these agreeable visits ; and, as I improved in the 
art of canvassing, had better success. Miss Wilberforce 



132 HANNAH MORE. 

would have been shocked, had she seen the petty tyrants 
whose insolence I stroked and tamed, the ugly children I 
praised, the pointers and spaniels I caressed, the cider I 
commended, and the wine I swallowed. After these irre- 
sistible flatteries, I inquired of each if he could recommend 
me to a house ; and said that I had a little plan which I 
hoped would secure their orchards from being robbed, 
their rabbits from being shot, their game from being 
stolen, and which might lower the poor-rates. If effect be 
the best proof of eloquence, then mine was a good speech, 
for I gained, at length, the hearty concui-rence of the whole 
people, and their promise to discourage and favor the poor 
in proportion as they were attentive or negligent in send- 
ing their children. Patty, who is with me, says she has 
good hopes that the hearts of some of these rich poor 
wretches may be touched : they are as ignorant as the 
beasts that perish, intoxicated every day before dinner, and 
plunged into such vices as make me begin to tliiiik London 
a virtuous place. By their assistance I procured im- 
mediately a good house, which, when a partition is 
taken down, and a window added, will receive a great 
number of children. The house and an excellent garden 
of almost an acre of ground, I have taken at once for six 
guineas and a half a year. I have ventured to take it for 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS, 133 

seven years — there is courage for you ! It is to be put in 
order immediately, ' for the night cometh ;' and it is a 
comfort to think that though I may be in dust and ashes 
in a few weeks, yet by that time this business will be in 
actual motion. I have written to different manufticturing 
towns for a mistress, but can get nothing hitherto. As to 
the mistress for the Sunday-school and the religious part, I 
have employed Mrs. Esterbrook, of whose judgment I 

have a good opinion. T hope Miss W will not be 

frightened, — but I am afraid she must be called a 
Methodist. 

"I asked the farmers if they had no resident curate? 
They told me they had a right to insist on one ; which right 
they confessed, they had never ventured to exercise, for 
fear their tithes would be raised. I blushed for my 
species. The glebe-house is good for my purposes. The 
curate lives at Wells, twelve miles distant. They have 
only service once a week, and there is scarcely an instance 
of a poor pei'son being visited or prayed with." 

In spite of Miss Hannah's repeated headaches, and Miss 
Patty's ill-health, so promptly and energetically did they 
pursue their labors, that the 1st of October witnessed the 
opening of the school in Cheddar, by Miss Hannah in 
person. The piincipal people from the parishes far and 
12 



134 HANNAH MORE. 

near, came to witness the operation of a scheme, as it was 
regarded, to reform Botany Bay. 

"It was an affecting sight," says she. " Several of the 
grown-up youth had been tried at the late assizes, — three 
were the children of a person lately condemned to be 
banged ; many thieves, all ignorant, profane and vicious, 
beyond behef. Of this banditti we have enlisted one 
hundred and seventy ; and when the clergyman, a hard 
man, who is also the magistrate, saw these creatures kneel- 
ing around us, whom he had seen but to commit or to 
punish in some way, he burst into tears. I can do them 
but little good, I fear, but the grace of God can. 

" Have you never felt your mind," she asks Wilberforce, 
" now and then raised and touched by some very trifling 
circumstance ? So I felt on Sunday. Some musical gen- 
tleman, drawn from a distance by curiosity (just as I was 
coming out of church with my ragged regiment, nmch de- 
pressed to think how little good I could do them), quite 
unexpectedly struck up that beautiful and animated an- 
them, ' In as much as you do it to one of the least of these, 
you have done it unto me.' " 

To the Sunday-school was soon added a school during 
the week, where sewing, knitting, and spinning were taught 
to the girls. A faithful and excellent woman was engaged 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 135 

as mistress of this school, who, with her daughter, entered 
so completely into Miss More's plans, that medicine, cloth- 
ing, and small sums of money were, from time to time, 
placed at her disposal, to distribute among the sick and 
needy, to whom she ever proved a friend and com- 
forter. 

Two years after Miss More's first visit to Cheddar, she re- 
ceived a zealous ally in the Rev. Thomas Drewitt, who be- 
came a resident curate among this people, strengthening 
her hands, and encouraging her heart by all the means in 
his power. 

Great as was the work for Cheddar, Cheddar did not 
bound their hopes or exhaust their energies : other fields 
opened before them, and they went boldly forward bearing 
the precious seed ; thirteen parishes were found equally 
destitute of the means of social comforts or religious im- 
provement. In Shipham the women knew nothing of in- 
dustry or frugality, the young men spent the Sabbath in 
sporting and hunting, and the children in nakedness and 
vagrancy. At Axbridge the curate was intoxicated six 
times in the week, and very frequently was prevented from 
preaching by two black eyes, honestly earned by fighting ; 
the ale-house was more frequented than the church, the 
laws of cards or quoits were better understood than the ten 



136 HANNAH MORE. 

commandments, while good order and domestic peace were 
things unheard of. 

" The lower classes are fated to be poor, ignorant, and 
wicked," said the pett)' landholders ; " and wise as you are, 
you cannot alter what is decreed." " Besides," added an- 
other, " I hke the parish very well as it is, — if the young 
men come and gamble before my house Sunday afternoon, 
I have only to go out and curse and swear at them, and 
they will march off, — what can one desii-e more ?" 

Happily for the parishes, there were those who did de- 
sire more — happily there were eyes that wept, and hearts 
that felt, and lips that pi-ayed, for the soriows and woes of 
the poor : there were time, and talent, and money that had 
been consecrated to the Lord's service, and they were to be 
employed among his poor : before the year closed schools 
were established in nine difterent parishes, — and five hun- 
dred scholars were enjoying the benefits of Sabbath- 
school instruction. 

From Bath, Wilberfoi'ce wrote to Miss More : — " 1 have 
more money than time, and if you or your sister will con- 
descend to be my almoner, you will enable me to employ 
some of the superfluity it has pleased God to give me, to 
some good purpose. Sure am I, that they who subscribe 
attention and industry furnish articles of more sterling 



SUNDAY 8CH00L8. 137 

and intrinsic value. Besides, I have a rich banker in Lou- 
don, Ml-. Henry Thornton, whom I cannot obhge so much 
as by drawing on him for purposes like these. I shall take 
the liberty of enclosing a draft for £40 ; but this is only 
for a beginning." 

" I joyfully accept your office of almoner," responds Han- 
nah, thankful to scatter around the " gleanings of the horn 
of plenty," " on condition that you will find fault with, and 
direct me with as little scruple as I shall have in disposing 
of your money. Patty is very proud at being admitted 
into tlie confederacy, and at being appointed superintendent 
of Cheddar ; a title, however, she will only hold by delega- 
tion in my too long absence, for I like my dignity too well 
to allow her to be more than vice-queen. 

" What comfort I feel, in looking round on these starv- 
ing and half-naked multitudes, to think that by your liber- 
ality many of them may be fed and clothed : and oh, if 
but one soul is rescued from eternal miseiy, how may we 
rejoice over it in another state, where perhaps it may not 
be one of our smallest felicities that our friendship was 
turned to some useful account in advancing the good of 
others, and, as I humbly presume to hope, in improving 
ourselves for that life which shall have no end. 

"Mr. Henry Thornton, I think, belongs to the Society 
12^ 



138 HANNAH MORE. 

of Sunday-schools in London, for assisting necessitous vil- 
lages with books, (fcc. There cannot be a fairer claim on 
them than the present. If you and he approve it, perhaps 
we may apply for a quantity of New Testaments, prayer- 
books, and httle Sunday-school books, with a few Bibles. 
The sooner we get them the better ; otherwise, you or he 
will be so good as to order a supply from the Society for 
promoting Christian Knowledge, to which I do not belong, 
or I would send for them. They may be directed to Park- 
street." 

To Mrs. Carter she writes, " It is grievous to reflect, that 
while we are sending missionaries to India, our villages are 
in pagan darkness, and upon many of them scarcely a ray 
of Christianity has shone. I speak from the most minute 
and diligent examination. I have been constantly occu- 
pied for a long time, in trying what my poor abihties and 
my small influence over others, richer and better, can bring 
about. In one particular spot, for instance, there are six 
large parishes, without so much as a resident curate. 
Through the kind assistance of a fiiend or two, I am en- 
deavoring to fix schools and other little institutions in the 
most destitute of these places, and, as they are from six to 
ten miles distant, you will judge that it employs a good 
deal of my time. I have the vsatisfaction to tell you, that 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 139 

Cheddar, our first establishment, goes on prosperously. 
We have a great many children in that parish only, and 
by the ability and piety of our teachers, their improve- 
ment surpasses my warmest hopes. I make no apology to 
you, my dear friend, for the freedom of these details. 
Alas ! there are so few to whom one can speak or write 
upon such subjects. 

" Poor Patty is a great sufferer. Our friend, Mrs. 
Garrick, who is still at Bristol Wells, has been to see us 
several times : she does not think herself quite recovered. 
To those who have enjoyed during a lifetime perfect 
health, illness is particularly alarming. Let you and me, 
my dear friend, number our infirm health, among the mer- 
ciful providences which have been dispensed to us. How 
much more do we enjoy our intervals of ease than those 
who know no pains, and I hope w^e may be able to turn 
the pain itself to a good account. ' All things work to- 
gether for good to them that love God.' 

" I wish you could see my roses. I have a double end 
in such a wish, for then I should see you. I am truly and 
faithfully, my dearest Mrs. Carter, yours." 

At this time the elder sisters retired from their school, 
after a professional experience of nearly thirty years, highly 
creditable to themselves, and amply rewarded by an ex- 



140 HANNAH MORE. 

tensive patronage, which enabled them to build a fine 
house in Bath, and spend their later years in the enjoy- 
ment of every comfort wliich earth can give, besides that 
unspeakable peace Avhich heaven bestows upon its heirs. 

Henceforth the sisters had two homes, sometimes at 
Cowslip Green, sometimes at Bath ; and the fraternal tie 
was strengthened and hallowed by the hearty co-operation 
of each other in holy purposes and useful plans. 

The Mendip schools were dear to the sisterhood : each 
bore her share in their labors, fatigues, anxieties, and con- 
flicts, sustaining and encouraging their sister Hannah, in 
the conspicuous and iniportant part which her talents and 
energy required her to bear. Uow delightful this circle, 
undivided by the change of years, and unbroken by death, 
mingling together their fortunes and affections in the same 
great pursuits, and around the same hom»hearths. 

In the establishment of their schools, the difficulties to 
be overcome needed all the resolution and judgment of 
minds like theirs. Though the field of effort was in a land 
of Bibles and Sabbaths, yet a preparatory work, not wholly 
imlike that which is necessary on heathen ground, was 
needed here, — the whole people whom they wished to 
benefit, were to be conciUated, — fearing not God, or regard- 
ing man, they neither desired nor cared for the blessings 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 141 

which christian love would bestow, — there were the preju- 
dices and opposition of the small proprietors, the hardness 
and guilt of the poor, the hatred of the ale-houses, the in- 
difference of the church, — the general ignorance and inca- 
pability of appreciating the nature of the good to be con- 
ferred upon thera, the difficulty also of obtaining suitable 
teachers, prudent, discreet, and pious ; add to these 
said Miss Hannah, after the good work was in progress, 
" The teaching of the teachers, which is not the least part 
of the work — having about thirty masters and mistresses, 
\^-ith under-teachers, one has continually to bear with the 
faults, the ignorance, the prejudices, humors, misfortunes, 
and debts of all these poor, well-meaning people. I hope, 
however, it teaches one forbearance, and it serves to put 
me in mind how much God has to bear from me. I now 
and then comfort Patty in our journeys home at night, by 
saying, if we do these people no good, I hope we do some 
little good to ourselves." 

But Miss More neither flinched nor faltered -in her ardu- 
ous service : she who had not hesitated to speak plain, 
but unwelcome truths to the gay and great, and reiterate 
the startling admonitions of the Bible in the halls of 
luxurious ease, would shrink from no personal fatigue 
or be disheartened either by opposition or indifference. 



142 HANNAH MORE. 

The course of instruction pursued in her schools was 
divided into four classes, Bible, Testament, Psalter, and the 
Catechism and Alphabet; the rules were always read at 
their opening on Sunday morning, followed by a prayer, 
a hymn, and a part of the 34:th Psalm. 

" For the first year," said Miss More, in speaking of the 
mother and dauo;hter whom she had enffa2:ed as teachers 
for Cheddar, and the difficulties presented at Cheddar 
were like those of every other place, where schools had 
been planted, " these excellent women had to struggle 
with every kind of opposition, so that they were frequently 
tempted to give up their laborious employ. They well 
entitled themselves to £30 per annum salary and some 
little presents. They visited the sick, chiefly with a view 
to their spiritual concerns ; but we concealed the true 
motive at first : and in order to procure them access to the 
homes and hearts of the people, they were furnished not 
only with medicine, but with a little money, which they 
administered with great prudence. They soon gained 
their confidence, read and prayed to them, and in all 
respects did what a good clergyman does in other 
parishes. 

" At the end of the year we perceived that much ground 
had been gained among the poor; but the success was 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 143 

attended with no small persecution from the rich, though 
some of them grew more favorable. 

" I now ventured to have a sermon read after school on a 
Sunday evening, inviting a few of the parents, and keeping 
the grown-up children ; the sermons were of the most 
awakening sort, and soon produced sensible effects. It was 
at first thought a very methodistical measure, and we got a 
few broken windows ; but quiet perseverance, and the great 
prudence with which the zeal of our good mistresses was 
regulated, carried us through. Many reprobates were, by 
the blessing of God, awakened, and many swearers and 
Sabbath-breakers reclaimed. The number both of young 
and old scholars increased, and the daily life and conversa- 
tion of many seemed to keep pace with tluir religious pro- 
fessions on the Sunda}'. 

" We now began to distribute Bibles, prayer-books, and 
other good books, but never at random, and only to those 
who had given some evidence of their loving and deserving 
them. They are always made the reward of superior 
learning, or some other merit, as we can have no other 
proof that they will be read. Those who manifest the 
greatest diligence, get the books of most importance. 
During my absence in the winter, a great many will learn 
twenty or thirty chapters, psalms and hymns. 



144 HANNAH MORE. 

"Finding the wants and distresses of these poor people 
uncommonly great (for their wages are but one shilling per 
day), and fearing to abuse the bounty of ray friends by too 
indiscriminate liberality, it occurred to me that I could 
make what I had to bestow go much further, by instituting 
clubs or societies for the women, as is done for the men in 
other places. It was no small trouble to accomplish this ; 
for though the subscription was only three half-pence a 
week, it was more than they could always raise ; yet the 
object appeared so important, that I found it would be 
good economy privately to give widows and other very 
poor women money to pay their club. After combating 
many prejudices, we carried this point, which we took care 
to involve in the general system, by making it subservient 
to the schools, the rules of the club restraining the women 
to such and such points of conduct respecting the schools. 
In some parishes we have one hundred and fifty poor 
women thus associated ; you may guess who are the 
patronesses." 

These clubs proved a great blessing to the little com- 
munities, in which they were established, by helping the 
poor to husband their small resources for a time of need, 
and teaching them the importance and advantage of 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 146 

economy : in sickness, a membev received three shillings a 
week, for lying-in seven shillings and sixpence. 

A girl trained in their schools and sustaining a virtuous 
character, was presented on her marriage day with five 
shillings, a pair of white stockings, and a new Bible. 

" Henceforth," says Miss More, " I desire to have little to 
do with tlie great. I have devoted the remnant of my life 
to the poor, and those that have no helper ; and if I can 
do them no good, I can at least sympathize with them, 
and I know it is some comfort for a forlorn creature, to be 
able to say, ' there is something that cares for me.' The 
simple idea of being cared for^ has always appeared to me 
a very cheering one : besides, the affection they have for 
me is a strong engine with which to lift them to a love of 
higher things. Alas, I might do more and better — pray 
for me." 

When at Wrington, which now began to be the greater 
part of the year, accompanied by one of her sisters, usually 
Patty, she endeavored to visit at least three parishes every 
Sabbath, riding from ten to thirty miles, often enduring 
thirteen hours, exposure to the weather, and frequently 
passing the night at some of the villages, and all this for 
upwards of twenty years : — what heroic devotion, what 
inflexibility of purpose, what earnest love does it not 
13 



146 HANNAH MORE. 

reveal ! At an age too, when most women are willing to 
retire from arduous labor in their Master's service, and 
eagerly beg to be excused even from the far less burden- 
some duty of Sabbath-school instruction of our own time. 

Her voluntary withdrawal from circles, whose wit, learn- 
ing, and elegance must present strong fascinations to a 
mind gifted like hers, and where she had had every induce- 
ment to remain, evinces the strength and sincerity of her 
rehgious convictions ; while her blessed charities and abun- 
dant labors among the despised and forsaken, for whose 
souls no man careth, shows the tender benevolence and 
unselfish sympathies of an humble and believing heart. 

How beautiful among the cottages are the feet of her, 
who bringeth glad tidings ! 

Christian disciple, regardest thou not too lightly the 
good that thou mightest do among the waste places 
and hedges of life. If thou art Christ's, thou must be 
Christ-hke; as He yearns over poor lost souls, so must 
thou : as He begat a work to save them, so must thy love 
not be a powerless and inefficient love, but a working, 
saving, personal love ; as at the Well, the Pool, the Corn- 
field and the Garden, so like thy Divine Master, must thou 
work while the day lasts : as He went among the poor, 
the despised, and the lowly esteemed among men, so must 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 147 

not thou neglect them : among such thou shalt gain a 
ready hearing, and of such is the kingdom of heaven. Oh, 
there are many watching?, toilsome labors, oppressions, 
heart-breakings, sinful murmurings, long, sorrowful days, 
yearnings for the bread of life in these humble homes : 
visit them : tell of the Balm in Gilead, talk of a Saviour's 
love, narrate the story of the Cross : hearts, sinful and 
hard, will melt that one careth for their welfare. Thus 
shall the seed of Divine truth be sown in many a home ; 
you may never know when or how it shall spring up ; 
you may never know the travail of soul necessary for its 
germination, but souls will be born into the kingdom of 
Heaven ; light will arise in darkness ; believing hearts will 
be glimmering here and there with faith and love, where 
your feet have trod ; your Master will be honored, and at 
the great day spirits redeemed through your labors of love, 
shall make up the crown of your rejoicing. 



CHAPTER X. 

SBintnii in Inrrnm— 3tiBuiii{i ^lui 

Mr. Newton is smitten : pierced and wounded with the 
arrows of affliction, he turns to Hannah More for the ten- 
der consolations of her christian sympathy : his wife, the 
idol of his early days, the beloved companion of his later 
years, is no more. To liim it is an hour of sorrow and of 
joy : sorrow that she is not, joy for the balm in Gilead, so 
he writes : — how beautifully is the tenderness of earthly af- 
fection chastened and subdued by heavenly love, how 
royally does the weeping mourner take refuge in Him, who 
chastens not willingly. 

" I could begin every letter," ran his, " with the words of 
David, ' Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his 
name together.' Great has been his goodness ! I am a won- 
der to many, and to myself. You perhaps know, madam, 
from what you have read of mine, and possibly from what 
you have seen in me, that my attachment tomy dearest 
was great, yea excessive, yea idolatrous ! It was so when it 



NEWTON IN SORROW. 149 

began.. I think no writer of romance ever imagined more 
than I realized. It was so when I married. She was to 
me precisely (how can I write it ?) in the place of God. 
In all places and companies my thoughts were full of her. 
I did everything for her sake, and if she was absent (for I 
made three long voyages to Africa afterwards), I could 
take pleasure in nothing. So narrow were my notions of 
happiness at this time, that I had no idea that I was capa- 
ble of anything greater or better than of being always with 
her. By degrees, He who has the only right to my 
heart, and who alone can fill it, was pleased to make me 
sensible of his just claim ; and my idol was brought some 
steps lower down, yet still, I fear, there was somewhat of 
the golden calf in my love, from the moment that joined 
our hands, to the moment of separation. She was cer- 
tainly my chief temporal blessing, and the providential 
hinge upon which all the principal events of my life have 
turned. Before I was four years old, she was sent into the 
world to be my companion, and to soften the rugged path 
of hfe. The difficulties in the way of our union were so 
many, so great, so apparently insuperable that my hope of 
obtaining her seemed little less chimerical than if I had 
expected the crown of Poland. Yet, at the proper time it 
took place. Fond as I was of her, I knew that incou- 
13^ 



160 HANNAH MORE. 

stancy and mutability are primary attributes of the human 
heart depraved, if left to itself ; but, as tlie providence of 
God joined our hands, a secret blessing from him cemented 
our hearts, we certainly understood Thomson when he 
says, 

* Enamored more as more remembrance swells 
With many a proof of recollected love.' 

Further, though I had deserved to f()rfeit her every day of 
my life, yet he spared her to me more than forty years ; 
and, lastly (which is the crowning mercy), when he recalled 
the loan, — for, strictly speaking, she was not mine, but his, 
— he made me willino^ to resio;n her. Throus^h the lonff 
course of her very trying illness, he supported me. 
Though my feelings were often painful, I believe a stranger 
who had seen me in company, or heard me from the pul- 
pit, would hardly have suspected what was passing at 
home. On the evening of the 15th instant I watched her, 
with a candle in my hand, for some hours ; and when I 
was sure she had breathed her last, — which could not at 
once be determined, she went away so easily, — I kneeled 
down by her bedside, with those who were in the room, 
and thanked the Lord, I trust, with all my heart, for her 
dismission. I slept this night as well as usual ; and, in 



NEWTON IN SOKKOW. 161 

defiance of the laws of tyrant custom, I continued to 
preach while she lay dead in the house. We deposited 
her in our own vault the 23d, and last Sunday evening I 
was enabled to preach her funeral-sermon, from Habak- 
kuk, iii. 17, 18. 

" In writing to you I feel my heart open : I am assured 
of meeting from you with that sympathy aM sensibility 
of which I hope I am not myself wholly destitute; and 
therefore I will tattle on. This was not a sudden stroke. 
She did not die by a flash of lightning, by what is called 
accident, nor by those rapid disorders which break the 
thread of life in a few days or hours. The Lord gave me 
time to prepare for it ; yea, by the gradual train of his 
dispensations, he gradually prepared me for it himself. 

" She was confined to the house nearly ten years, ex- 
cepting that in Septembei-, 1*789, she was enabled to go 
for a month to Southampton, and during the last autumn 
went out every evening in a coach, for a little air. But 
she was shut up from the house of God, and from visiting 
her friends, though, till about September, she could gen- 
erally receive them at home. Indeed, till about that 
time, I did not give up all hope of her recovery. But a 
total loss of appetite, or rather, a loathing of food, then 
took place, which soon reduced her to a state of great 



162 HANNAH MORE. 

weakness. In the beginning of October slie took to her 
bed, and was soon after, I suppose from some defect in the 
spine, deprived of all locomotive power. She could neither 
move herself, nor without the greatest difficulty, be moved ; 
sometimes not so much as to have anything about her 
changed for a fortnight together. Such, my dear madam, 
was the state of my idol ; what a rebuke — what a lesson 
was it to me, to see her He for eight or nine weeks in so 
sad and pitiable a situation ! But the case was mingled 
with many merciful alleviations. Her patience was won- 
derful, — her natural spirit as good as when she was in 
health. Often when my eyes were full of tears, she has 
constrained me to smile. When she could not move her 
body, she was thankful that she could move her hands, 
thankful that the Lord had laid no more upon her than 
she could bear ; and when I once said, ' You are a great 
sufferer,' she replied, ' I do suftcr, but not greatly.' So to 
know that we are sinners, and so to know the Saviour, as 
to feel both the necessity and the liberty of applying to 
him, constitutes that knowledge which chiefly deserves the 
name ; and this,' I trust, was her privilege long before her 
last illness. But the enemy of our peace found advantage 
fi'om the weakness of her frame, to distress her with doubts 
which did not so directly apply to her own state as to the 



NEWTON IN SORROW. 153 

whole system of truth. She said, ' If there be a Saviour,' 
— ' If there be a God.' In this interval, which lasted near 
a fortnight, there was some abatement of that serenity I 
spoke of, some signs of impatience, and she discovered a 
strong reluctance to the thought of dying. Then was my 
sharpest trial ; but the cloud gradually wore off, and for 
the last month she spoke of her departure with great com- 
posure, and seemed perfectly reconciled to it. Yet, she 
never recovered strength and freedom to speak much 
to me about herself. The Sunday before she died, I said, 
' If you cannot easily speak, and if your mind be at 
peace, I wish you to signify it by holding up your hand.' 
She immediately held it up, and waved it for a httle time. 
This from her, who knew the Gospel so well, comforted 
and satisfied me. It reminded me of the striking scene in 
Shakspeare, of Cardinal Beaufort, which closes with, ' He 
dies — but gives no sign.' Blessed be God, it was not her 
case ! 

" In the course of the day she asked for me, though I 
was seldom long or far from her ; but her head was so 
much affected by lying many weeks in one position, that 
though perfectly sensible, she could hardly bear the sound 
of the gentlest voice, or the softest footstejis upon the car- 
pet. I went to her ; she stroked my face, squeezed my 



164 HANNAH MORE. 

hand, and said, * My pretty dear !' an appellation she fre- 
quently gave me. We both dropped a few tears. These 
were the last words I heard her speak, and I could say but 
httle. Such was our last fiirewell. From that night till 
she obtained her release, she gave little sign of life but by 
breathing. 

" Now, ray dear madam, I have done. I shall trouble 
you with no more in this strain. She is gone — and may I 
not add, I am going ? For though my health was never 
better than at present, I am advancing in my C6th year. 
What is the world to me now ? All the treasures of the 
Bank of England could not repair my loss, or even abate 
my sense of it. My chief earthly tie to this life is broken ; 
yet, I thank God, I am willing to live, while he has any 
service for me to do, or rather, while he pleases, whether I 
can serve him or not, provided I am favored with sub- 
mission to his will. I have lost my right hand. He has 
made me willing to part with it, but I must expect to miss 
it often. However, I thank him, I am by no means un- 
comfortable. I am satisfied he does all things well ; and 
though some months ago, had it been lawful, I would have 
redeemed her life and health by the sacrifice of a limb, 
and thought the purchase cheap ; yet, now his will is made 
known by the event, I trust T can from the heart say, 



NEWTON IN SORROW. 155 

with Fenelon, ' I would not take up a straw to have things 
otherwise than they are.' Time is short. A new and in- 
conceivable scene will soon open upon us, and if they who 
now ' sow in tears shall reap in joy,' they may smile while 
they weep. 

" We seem to want some other word by which to denote 
our supreme regard for God, than that which expresses 
our affection to creatures. When we speak of loving him, 
it must be in a different sense. Creature-love is a passion ; 
Divine love is a principle. It arises from an apprehension 
of his adorable perfections, especially as they are displayed 
in the great work of redemption, without which it is 
impossible for a sinner to love him. 

" There is a sensibility of feeling in creature-love, which 
is no proper standard of our love to God. This depending 
much upon condition and the state of the animal spirits, 
is different in different persons, and in the same pei-sons 
at different times. It is variable as the weather, and indeed 
is often affected by the weather and a thousand local 
circumstances, no more in our power than the clouds that 
fly over our heads. It is no uncommon thing to judge 
more favorably of ourselves on this point on a bright 
summer's day, and while contemplating a beautiful pros- 
pect, than in the gloom of winter, or the hurry of Cheap- 



156 HANNAH MORE. 

side. The high affection of some people may be compared 
to a summer's brook after a hasty rain, which is full and 
noisy for a little time, but soon becomes dry. But true 
divine love is like a river which always runs, though not 
always with equal depth and flow, and never ceases till it 
finds the ocean. The best evidences are — admiration of his 
way of saving sinners, — humble dependence on his care, — 
desire of communion with him in his instituted means of 
grace, — submission to the will of his providence, and 
obedience to the dictation of his precepts. To keep his 
commandments, and to keep them as His commandments 
from a sense of his authority and goodness, is the best, 
the most unsuspicious test of our love to Ilim." 

Who can read this letter, without feehng the power and 
value of genuine piety ? It is among the most beautiful 
records of what God can do for the soul trusting in Him ; 
how his grace can subdue and control the strongest earthly 
passion, and grant consolation, yea joy, in the hours of 
deepest sorrow. 

A year after, Newton comes to Cowslip Green. 

" Pray, my dear sir," w^rote Miss More in a note, which 
met him on the way, " try to divert your mind from the 
delighte and elegances of Teston, before you turn your 
way towards my little thatched cottage, where a quiet 



NEWTON IN SORROW. 15Y 

cell, a few books, a maple dish and a ' dinner of herbs' are 
all you can in reason expect — but then, I hope we shall be 
able to furnish the appropriate sauce of ' quietness there- 
with,' for which I trust you will be contented to renounce 
the stalled ox of noisy London." 

He passed a week there in August ; a week of delight- 
ful christian intercourse, the memory of which, ever after- 
wards, cheered him on his solitary pilgrimage : how they 
rode to Shipham and visited the schools, how the thunder 
storm frightened Miss Catlett, how Mr. Newton smoked 
his pipe, and Patty talked of Cowper, — ah yes, how pleas- 
ant is the memory of daily incidents in the visit of a 
friend. 

In passing King Weston's hill on his homeward journey, 
nothing in the wide and beautiful prospect dehghted his 
eye like a glimpse of the Mendip Ridge, " yes, yes, and I 
was so foolish as almost to envy a hill, which, if it had 
eyes like me, might look at Cowslip Green from morning 
till night." 

Nor is the interest dimmed by the dirt of Cheapside, or 
duties of Colman-street ; 

" In Helicon could I my pen dip 
I might attempt the praise of Mendip ; 
14 



168 HANNAH MORE. 

Were bards an hundred, I'd outstrip 'em 
If equal to the fame of Shipham ; 
But harder still the task, I ween, 
To give its due to Cowslip Green," 

writes he in quaint and curious numbers. 

" Every Sunday morning my thoughts set out in quest 
of you and Miss Patty, and though I know not what road 
you have taken, I seldom miss finding you. There is a 
communion of spirit among the beheving members of that 
body of which Christ is the living head, which I beheve is 
not impeded by local distance." 

" I assure you," rephed Miss More, " your kind wishes, 
and your affectionate remembrance of the mountains of 
Mendip and of the httle hermitage at the foot of it, are 
returned with great sincerity. Your pipe still maintains 
its station in the black-currant bush, and that hand would 
be deemed very presumptuous and disrespectful which 
should presume to displace it. For my own part, the pipe 
of Tityrus, though in my youthful days I liked it passing 
well, would not now be deemed a more venerable relic : 
and even the little sick maid Lizzy, who gratefully remem- 
bers the spiritual comfort you administered to her, often 
cries out, * Oh dear ! I hope nobody will break Mr. New- 
ton's pipe.' 



MENDIP FEAST. 159 

" Patty and I remember you as we are trotting over the 
hills. She desires her affectionate regards, as do all the 
rest. You would enjoy the vale of Cowslips in this re- 
newed spring : we have everything of the golden age 
except the innocence ; the garden is full of roses as in June, 
and an apple-tree literally covered at the same moment 
with fruit nearly ripe and fresh blossoms." 

Patty had long desired to enrich her album from the 
pen of Cowper, whose poems were in high favor at Cow- 
slip Green. Newton, the poet's friend and former pastor 
at Olney, undertook to lay her request before him, who, to 
show his readiness in obliging an old friend and a fair lady, 
sent the following couplet, which held a conspicuous place 
on her pages. 

" In vain to live from age to age 
We modern bards endeavor ; 
In Patty's book I wrote one page, 
And gained my point forever." 

In order to increase a general interest in the schools, 
and reward the punctual attendance of the scholars, the 
ladies busied themselves in preparing a Feast, or what 
now-a-day we might call a Sabbath-school Picnic, the first 
of the kind perhaps ever held. The spot, selected on this 



160 HANNAH MORE. 

occasion, was on one of the Mendip bills, eight miles from 
Cowslip Green, commanding a beautiful and varying pros- 
pect of the British channel and the Welsh mountains, 
with quiet hamlets in the foreground : a spot of land was 
fenced in, tents were pitched, and tables spread ; children 
and teachers flocked to the spot at an early hour ; a large 
party in wagons started from Cowslip Green, while the 
strangeness of the event attracted innumerable lookers-on 
without the enclosure. Psalms were prettily sung, perhaps 
addresses were happily made, and nine hundred sat down 
to a dinner of beef, plum pudding, and cider : all the 
neighboring clei'gy were present, and grace was said at 
each table ; the day was fine, and Miss Patty's fears 
speedily subsided before the good order and decorum 
which everywhere prevailed throughout this immense 
gathering. A general chorus of "God save the King" 
closed the festivities of the day. Miss More ever inculcating 
loyalty among the duties of religion. 

The female clubs also had their anniversary days, when 
the members heard a sermon at the parish church, and 
then, adjourning to one of the school-rooms, prettily deco- 
rated for the occasion, with flowers and evergreens, tea and 
cakes were served by Miss More and her sisters. These 
feasts, which continued to be held, from time to time, were 



MEN DIP FEAST. 161 

attended with the most beneficial results, in arousing the 
self-respect of the poor, and creating a stronger sympathy 
in their behalf among those whose power it was to benefit. 

A train of carriages, extending no less than a mile, fre- 
quently left Cowshp Gi-een on such occasions, nor did the 
highest dignitaries in church or state disdain the thatched 
school-houses of Cheddar and Shipham. 

On one pleasant summer's day, a gentleman came that 
way. " How beautiful is this !" he said to himself, stopping 
at the gate, to survey the rural charms of Cowslip Green. 

Miss Mary More issued from the shrubbery, and with 
hospitable intent, invited the stranger to enter. 

Dehghted wilh the situation and garden, he inquired to 
whom it belonged. 

" Miss Hannah More," was the reply of the eldest. 

His surprise seemed only equal to his pleasure. An in- 
troduction follov/ed, and Mr. Turner, for it was he, was 
willingly led to the house, where Hannah herself received 
her former lover with the utmost cordiality and kindness. 

Their long-suspended intercourse was renewed, and re- 
mained unbroken until his death. He became a not un- 
frequent guest at the Cottage, and was the delighted spec- 
tator of the last picnic given by the ladies on the Mendip 
Ridge. 



162 I[ A N N A H MO R E. 

"Every cloud has a silver lining;" what ma}'' have 
been a source of disappointment and mortification to Miss 
More in her earlier days, led to a life of usefulness, at 
once so conspicuous and exalted, that her praise dwells 
upon every lip, and her example quickens and encourages 
every heart. 



CHAPTER XL 

Will (Cjiip ani {iih 33riJtIirBii* 

The angry clouds of revolution which swept over France 
during the last part of the last century, began to gather 
around and darken the English horizon. The fond hopes 
which had been awakened by the assembling of the States- 
general, and which had given an unwonted glow to all 
those who desired her freedom from the political and social 
evils which encumbered her, had long since been dissi- 
pated : in place of reform there was revolution ; confu- 
sion and anarchy followed with swift and sudden step; 
opinions and principles hostile to order, government, and 
religion, were propagated under the guise of philosophy 
and fraternity, seducing the unwary by a promised good, 
which could never be fulfilled. The clubs of France had 
overturned and overturned, until the throne, the State, the 
church, all civil, social, and moral law had been trampled 
down, and the bleeding and stricken people were left to 
the reckless fury of leaders who knew not God, neither re- 



164 HANNAH MORE. 

garded man. Wild a,s was this spirit of reform, it swept 
over the English channel, driving from city to city, gather- 
ing up the loose and discordant elements of the English 
masses, threatening the peace of society, and the stability 
of the state. 

As the agitation and discontent were beneath the sur- 
face, grumbling and muttering in the work-shops, the ale- 
houses, and the club-meetings, much of it Avas beyond the 
reach of statesmen, and below the cognizance ofi law : 
yet it needed to be met, met decidedly, yet naturally ; met 
on its own grounds, with its own weapons, — English sense 
against French fraternity ; tract and pamphlet against tract 
and pamphlet. Dr. Paley was enlisted in the service, 
lie wrote " Reasons for Contentment," and a Prebend of St. 
l^aul's was his reward. The book aimed above the mark : 
it relieved the anxiety of a higher class, but it did not 
quell the tumultuous hopes, or answer the dangerous 
sophistry of the discontented or seditious. Something 
more direct, more practical, more lively, was wanted ; some- 
body with quick wit and sound sense, withal, who knew 
the men he had to deal with. At last, Will Chip showed 
himself to the English public. Will Chip, with no more, 
as it were, than a sling and a few smooth stones, ventured 
forth to meet the great Goliath of the times. Will Chip 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. 165 

makes no boasts : he simply asks to be heard and read, — 
he has written " Village Politics," a tract, very brief, and 
as everybody began to say, on reading it, very pertinent 
and very pithy. Bookseller Rivington issued it, and his 
shop is thronged, for wonderful is the demand for " Village 
Politics." Bishops christen it, lords bless it, landholders 
rejoice over it, everybody for law and order are thankful 
for it ; it multiplies abundantly : one hundred thousand 
copies are circulated through lanes and courts, entering the 
shops, knocking at the doors, looking out the windows ; — 
it speedily makes the circuit of the kingdom ; — it goes by 
hosts into Scotland and Ireland ; — it leaps into France, and 
passes into Italy, — it is haw^ied and peddled ; in hall and 
cottage, " Village Pohtics" is known and read. Will Chip 
has proved himself a master-workman ; they say he is 
thankful and contented, loyal and christian, with a plenty 
to do, and a heart to do it. " What is a French Demo- 
crat," cries Will Chip, Jack Anvil the blacksmith being 
his mouthpiece, " but one w^ho likes to be governed by a 
thousand tyrants, yet can't bear a king? — and what is 
French equality, but every man trying to pull down every 
one that is above him, while instead of raising those below 
him to his own level, he only makes use of them as steps 
to raise himself to the place of those he has tumbled 



166 HANNAH MORE. 

down ? — and French philosophy, but to beUeve there is 
neither God or devil, heaven or hell ? — and French benevo- 
lence, but contempt of religion, aversion to justice, over- 
turning of law, doubting all mankind in general, and hat- 
ing everybody in pai'ticular ? — and as for equalization, 
fraternization, inviolabihty, it is nonsense, gibberish, down- 
right hocus-pocus !" 

Will Chip was certainly one of the most influential char- 
acters in all England, — he was a man for the time, and 
people say that his tact and intelligence did more than 
anything else to open the eyes of the masses to the follies 
of French politics, and set Englishmen considering that, 
" Though they had a king, he was so kept in, he could 
not hurt the people if he would ; that they had as much 
liberty as could make them happy, more trade and riches 
than allowed them to be good ; the best laws in the 
world, if they were more strictly enforced, and the best re- 
ligion in the world, if it were but better followed." 

Englishmen began to come to their senses, and see all 
Will Chip said was true. But who was this remarkable 
gentleman, — so shrewd, so pointed, so seasonable, so con- 
versant with Village Politics and French policy ? Where 
did Will Chip live ? The Bishop of London knew, for he 
writes to Mrs. Chip : — 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. 167 

" I have this moment received your husband's Dialogue, 
and it is supremely excellent. I look upon Mr. Chip to 
be one of the finest writers of the age; this work alone 
will immortahze him ; and, what is better still, I trust it 
will help to immortalize the constitution. If the sale is as 
rapid as the book is good, Mr. Chip will get an immense 
income, and completely destroy all equahty at once. How 
Jack Anvil and Tom Hod will hear this I know not, but 
I shall rejoice at Mr. Chip's elevation, and should be 
extremely glad at this moment to shake him by the hand, 
and ask him to take a family dinner- wdth me. He is 
really a very fine fellow. I have kept your secret most 
religiously. 

" Your very sincere and faithful 

"B. London." 

But secrets, like murder, will out. Mrs. Boscawen has 
got at it. 

" Oh, oh, say you so !" she writes to Hannah More. 
" It must have been instinct then that has made me send 
for a quarter of a hundred more of ' Will Chip,' and still 
for more and more ; the last bale came in yesterday, and 
I see they will not last the week out ; I had better have 
had a hundred at once. Last week I sent a packet to 



168 HANNAH MORE. 

Badminton, and my duchess answers me thus: 'We 
have all read, and delight in your Village Politics.' A 
gentleman here says he shall send for a gross of them to 
distribute about in his neighborhood. I have not had a 
gross, to be sure, like this Gloucestershire gentleman, but I 
have had them past counting, little thinking — why, yes, I 
did think, too, of somebody, though not just the true 
body ; for you must know the first word I ever heard of 
poor Tom Hod, or the sprightly consolations of his face- 
tious neighbor Jack x\nvi], was one night at Lady Cre- 
morne's, where tlie Bishop of London pulled them out 
of his pocket, and read the delectable dialogue to us, in 
tones so suitable that he was interrupted continually with 
our bui-sts of laughter (ask Mrs. Kennicott else, for she 
was of the, audience), and when he came to 'my lady,' 
and sent her ' to cold water, and hot water, and salt 
water, and fresh water,' he could not get on at all, we 
laughed so immoderately. I suspected his lordship was 
the author. ' Well,' as Tom says, I went home, and sure 
enough I wrote upon a bit of paper that minute, ' a 
quarter of a hundred of Will Chip, or Village Politics, to 
be had at Rivington's,' — and this I gave to citizen Brown, 
and bid him carry it early next morning to a certain 
walking bookseller of mine, who procures me all the learn- 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. 169 

ing I deal in ; and this was accordingly done, but did not 
hold me (as I said) three days — I have had many recruits 
since, and must have more. Last night a gentleman gave 
me ' Reasons for Contentment,' by Archdeaison Paley, ad- 
dressed to the laboring part of the British public. I cast 
my eyes over it, and though I honor Archdeacon Paley, 
yet I assured the giver that I would send him the produc- 
tion of one, the minute I got home, who understood the 
language much better: and accordingly I despatched a 
little packet of Will Chip before I sat down at home. You 
will believe that I have not forgotten to supply Richmond. 
Our minister and our apothecary are supplied; and the 
first went to the house of Cambridge and there excited 
envy, Mr. Cambridge declaring he wished he had written 
it. Mr. Rivington still dispenses them by thousands (I 
hope some go to France), and though he cannot get 
anything by them, nor the pleasant author, yet both will 
allow that this is success." 

It was a new department for Hannah More ; so useful, 
so influential, so successful had she proved herself to be on 
the side of government and order as a village politician, 
that her excellent friend, the Bishop of London, besought 
her to come out on the side of religion and the Bible in a 
" Village Christianity." 

15 



1*70 HANNAH MORE. 

The pen of Miss More was not idle. If French pohties 
had alarmed and nerved her to action, the unblushing 
confessions of French infidelity shocked her moral sense, 
and filled her with the most serious apprehensions. 

" What," exclaimed citizen Dupont, in an impassioned 
speech before the national convention in December 1*792, 
" Thrones are overturned ! Sceptres broken ! Kings expire ! 
and yet the altars of God remain ! 

" A single breath of enlightened reason will now be 
sufficient to make them disappear: and if humanity is 
under obligation to the French nation for the first of these 
benefits, the fall of Kings, can it be doubted that the 
French people, now sovereign, will be wise enough, in 
like manner, to overthrow those altars and those idols to 
which those Kings have hitherto made them subject? 
Nature and Reason, these ought to be the gods of man ! 
These are my gods ! Admire nature, cultivate reason ! 
For myself, I honestly avow the conviction — I am an 
atheist 1" 

" Dupont's and Manuel's atheistical speeches," writes she 
in April to Horace Walpole, now Earl of Oxford, ^' have 
stuck in my throat all the winter ; and I have been waiting 
for our Bishops and clergy to take some notice of them, 
but blasphemy and atheism have been allowed to become 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. l7l 

familiar to the minds of our common people, without any 
attempt being made to counteract the poison." 

The attempt was however made by Miss More — " I 
know how paltry is the little I can do," she says, " but my 
conscience tells me that that little ought to be done." 

Ah ! if every Christian were to act thus ! How many 
sit idly down to indulge in imaginary schemes of extended 
good, while smaller opportunities within their reach are 
neglected and despised ! how many excuse their sloth by 
pleading the smallness of their ability, or the inferiority 
of their trust ! Oh ! " do the little you can, for that little 
ought to be done." God works through atoms; the 
mightiest ministrations of nature are carried on by the 
simplest and humblest agencies, each doing its part in the 
universal plan. There is a wonderful power in doing ; it 
enlarges your ability to do more; it brightens the eye 
and braces the mind, and gives to life a double zest, and 
an unknown joy. 

Miss More's "Remarks on the Speech of M. Dupont," 
made in the National Convention on Religion and Public 
Education, made its appearance in the spring, together 
with an address to the Ladies of Great Britain in behalf 
of the French emigrant clergy; great numbers of those 
exiles were found in England, in extremely destitute cir- 



1*72 HANNAH MORE. 

cumstances, many lacking the comforts and even the 
necessaries of hfe. To those in Bath, the sisters freely 
extended the hospitalities of their house, and a thousand 
pounds were raised through Ilannah's influence by the sale 
of her Remarks, and subscriptions raised by her appeal. 

" Your work is so much above praise," writes Mrs. 
Montagu to her, " your mind so superior to vanity and a 
desire of fame, that I shall not repeat to you a word of 
the universal admiration it has excited, and the great 
approbation of the sentiments which prompted you to 
write it. I will barely assure you of what alone interests 
you, that this work will afford great assistance to the poor 
refugees, and will be of infinite service to the souls of 
thousands." 

Thus in doing the little she could, because that httle 
ought to be done, a stream of blessing gushes up where 
her steps have been. 

The bleakness of this prospect, is relieved by a playful 
extract from a letter by the Bishop of London to the lady 
of Cowslip Green : — 

"As you certainly belong to my diocess, and are on 
many accounts fairly entitled to the benefit of clergy (for 
you can not only read, but also write, and even preach, to 
the great world ipore eloquently than most clergy-women). 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. l73 

I cannot do very much amiss, I think, in sending you the 
enclosed charge. There are two things at least, you will 
learn from it, — to sing psalms more melodiously in your 
parish-church, and to reside more constantly in your proper 
diocess, from which (as I know by experience) you are but 
too apt to wander, and to be led astray into the flowery 
paths of Cowslip, and suchlike seducing and dangerous 
places, where you forget, amid the dissipations of solitude, 
your duty towards your neighbor, and never think of be- 
stowing one single sohtary line on Mr. Walpole, or on me. 
I have lately received a letter from him, in which he com- 
plains most bitterly of your pertinacious silence. Pray let 
us hear soon how your cowslips, and daisies, and acacias 
go on, and how many tons of hay you have this year, for 
I take it for granted you are a great farmer. 

" Your friend. Lord Oxford, and myself are, I believe, 
the only persons in the kingdom w^orthy of the hot 
weather, — the only true, genuine summer we have had for 
the last thirty years ; we both agreed that it was perfectly 
celestial, and that it was quite scandalous to huff it away 
as some people did. A few days before it arrived, all the 
w^orld was complaining of the dreadfully cold north-east 
wind ; and in three days after the warmer weather came 
in, everybody was quarrelling with the heat, and sinking 
15* 



1*74 HANNAH MORE. 

under the rays of the sun. Such is that consistent and 
contented thing called human nature. As to ourselves, 
we enjoyed with gratitude and delight this truly Italian 
but short-lived summer. We lived in Bishop's noble 
northern room all the day, and in the evening the meadows 
were our drawing-room : there our little lawn was as green 
as an emerald, and kept constantly cool with fresh breezes 
from the Thames, while every other field and garden in 
the kingdom was burned up, and bi'ought actually to the 
color of a gravel-walk. Our little cottage was indeed 
quite delicious, and this summer alone has amply repaid 
me for all my trouble and expense." 

Great as was the care and labor of superintending the 
Cheddar schools, Miss More still projected new plans for 
the improvement and elevation of the laboring classes. 
There was at that period a great lack of reading, sufficiently 
cheap, lively, and instructive, to be within the range of 
their means or tastes. Hannah More asked, " How can 
this deficiency in the smallest degree be made up ?" In 
the unsettled, discontented, and inquiring state of the 
English masses, how necessary to furnish them with the 
right sort of reading : if Will Chip had done such essen- 
tial service by his sensible and judicious endeavors in Vil- 
lage Politics, might not Will Chip be found to labor with 



WILL CHIP AND HIrf BRETHREN. 175 

the same efficiency for temperance, for economy, for re- 
ligion, for social stability, and moral improvement ? 

Miss More thought they could be found : at least the at- 
tempt was fairly worth making ; thence sprung the plan 
of " The Cheap Repository," a publication to furnish a 
story, a ballad, and a tract for Sunday, every month, and 
to be in part sustained by subscription, in order to bring it 
within the means of the humblest cottager. The plan 
met with the warmest reception from Hannah's friends. 

" Thank you a thousand times for your most ingenious 
plan," exclaimed the Earl^of Oxford. " May great success re- 
ward you ! How calm and comfortable must your slumbers 
be on the pillow of every day's good deeds !" The Bishop 
of London armed his extensive influence in its behalf, and 
when issued, his library table was always covered with this 
penny literature, in order to make it the subject of conver- 
sation with all new-comers. Patty and Sarah, with other 
friends, promised their assistance, and the work was hap- 
pily commenced. Two committees were formed in Lon- 
don to promote its regular circulation, and two millions 
were sold the first year. 

In the winter of the year 1794, which had been almost 
unremittingly occupied in work among her schools, with 
her pen, or in lesser schemes of active usefulness, she jour- 



176 HANNAH MORE. 

neyed to London, and paid a few visits among the halls 
and haunts of wealth and leisure. 

" Last Saturday I dined with Mi-s. Montagu. It was al- 
most two years since I had found myself in such grande 
monde ; so I told them if I should be caught doing any- 
thing vulgar, they must give me a jog. We were fourteen 
at dinner, and many more were added after, most of them 
my old and intimate friends, who seemed to receive me 
with great kindness. I told them to make much of me, 
for their opportunities of seeing such a rarity would be 
few. Mi*s. Montagu is well, brigfft, and in full song, and 
had spread far and wide the fame of Cowslip Green, and 
the day she passed there. Li the midst of all the splendor 
of hghts, and grandeur, and luxury, word was brought in 

of the death of poor Lady E . It was a tremendous 

warning : she was an amiable, generous, and charitable 
woman, but was immersed in luxury and splendor. 

" I went to Mrs. Boscawen, with whom I shall make a 
point to pass all the time I can spare. We have had 
many hours' quiet discussion. She is better, but I fear 
breaking up. 

" Three o'clock.— Called down to Mr. Henry Thornton, 
just arrived from Clapham, where he, Mr. Wilberforce, and 
Mr. Elliott have been quietly enjoying themselves several 



WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN. 177 

days. We have had two or three hours' prate, but our 
spirits were not exhausted : he is not in very stout health. 
Yesterday I went to hear Mr. Cecil, — Naaman the Syrian 
— very excellent." 

Brief records of herself, penned at this time, reveal the 
jealousy with which she watched her straying affections, 
lest the beautiful and attractive accomplishments of Lon- 
don life might seduce her from that watchfulness, stead- 
fastness, and self-discipline, without which it is difficult, 
nay, impossible, to maintain the spirit and the essential 
traits of christian character. 

March. — " Dined with friends at Mrs. What dost 

thou here, Elijah ? Felt too much pleased at the pleasure 
expressed by so many accomplished friends, on seeing me 
again. Keep me from contagion." 

Sunday. — " I see the need of doing the duty of every 
day in its day. When I look back on the past week, I 
see cause of mourning over my vanity and folly. Sloth 
and self are getting strong dominion, and much time 
wasted, which I had devoted to improvement. Let these 
continual discoveries make me humble." 

May. — " Came to Fulham to my dear bishop — much 
kindness — literary and elegant society ; but the habits of 
pohshed life, even of viiiuous and pious people, are too re- 



lY8 HANNAH MORE. 

laxing. Much serious reading, but not a serious spirit; 
good health, with increased relaxation of mind ; thus are 
the blessings of God turned against himself." 

Some of Miss More's most capital efforts were in the 
pages of the Cheap Repository. The Shepherd of Salis- 
bury Plain, originally one of the Sunday Tracts of this 
publication, alone will immortalize her, whose Mr. Johnson 
is the dear and early friend of the sisters. Sir James Stone- 
house ; and the Shepherd's humble cottage on Cherril 
Down, is still pointed to the traveller in quest of curious 
relics. 

Her ballads obtained great favor and influence through- 
out the kingdom. In consequence of the political distrac- 
tions of the Continent, and the war which England was 
called upon to wage, together with the extreme severity of 
the weather, in 1795, which cut off the crops, there was 
great suflfering among the lower classes of the English 
people ; cold, scarcity, and discontent everywhere pre- 
vailed to an unusual and alarming degree. The Cheap 
Repository, with wonderful sagacity, furnished plans and 
precepts for enabling the people to bear the ills which 
pressed so heavily upon tliem, and inculcated religious 
truths in so simple and direct a manner, that the faith of 
multitudes, alarmed by the plausible and shallow argu- 



WILL CHIP AND HIW BKETHREN. l79 

ments of infidelity, became confirmed and strengthened in 
the good old ways of their fathers. 

Numerous and illustrious was the race of Chips. Mrs. 
Jones' cheap dishes in " Hester Wilmot,*' were in repute 
even at the tables of the rich ; " Black Giles the Poacher" 
frightened everybody trying to live by their wits, rather 
than their work ; no temperance agent ever eflfected more 
good than " Sorrowful Sam," while the " Riot" ballad sea- 
sonably sung among a gang of miners on the eve of a 
rising, opened their eyes to the truth of Jack Anvil's 
eloquent appeal, 

" What a whimsey to think thus our bellies to fiU, 
For we stop all the grinding by breaking the mill ! 
What a whimsey to think we shall get more to eat 
By abusing the butchers who get us the meat ! 
What a whimsey to think we shall mend om* spare diet, 
By breeding disturbance, by murder and riot," 

and saved the mills, spared the butchers, and restored 
quiet to a most seditious neighborhood. 

Bishop Butler's analogy for half-penny, is surely worthy 
of a record ; the doubts, perplexities and sinful grumblings, 
of many a one careful and troubled about many things, 
are happily and sensibly rebuked in this most excellent 



180 HANNAH MOKE. 

epitome of one of the grand truths of God's providential 
government ; indeed, no one can read " Tuni the Carpet," 
without having his faith confirmed, and, whether he confess 
it or not, l^ecoming more ashamed of envious comparisons 
and ungrateful murmurs than he ever was before. 

TURN THE CARPET, 

OR, THE TWO WEAVERS. 

IN A DIALOGUE BETWEEN DICK AND JOHN. 

As at their work two weavers sat, 
Beguiling time with friendly chat ; 
They touch'd upon the price of meat, 
So high, a weaver scarce could eat. 

" What with my brats and sickly wife," 
Quoth Dick, " I'm almost tir'd of life : 
So hard my work, so poor my fare, 
'Tis more than mortal man can bear. 

How glorious is the rich man's state ! 
His house so fine ! his wealth so great ! 
Heav'n is unjust, you must agree. 
Why all to him? why none to me? 

In spite of what the Scripture teaches, 
In spite of all the parson preaches, 
This world (indeed I've thought so long) 
Is rul'd, methinks, extremely wrong. 



WILL CHIP AND III S BRETHREN. 181 

Where'er I look, howe'er I range, 
'Tis all confus'd, and hard, and strange, 
The good are troubled and oppress' d. 
And all the wicked are the bless'd." 

Quoth John : " Our ign'rance is the cause 
Why thus we blame our Maker's laws; 
Parts of his ways alone we know, 
'Tis all that man can see below. 

See'st thou that carpet,' not half done. 
Which thou, dear Dick, hast well begun? 
Behold the wild confusion there. 
So rude the mass it makes one stare ! 



Would say, no meaning's there convey'd; 
For Where's the middle, where's the border "« 
Thy carpet now is all disorder." 

Quoth Dick, "My work is yet in bits, 
But still in ev'ry part it fits; 
Besides, you reason hke a lout. 
Why, man, that carpet's inside out." 

Says John, "Thou say'st the thing I mean, 
And now I hope to cure thy spleen ; 
This world, which clouds thy soul with doubt, 
Is but a carpet inside out. 
10 



182 HANNAH MOKE. 

As when we view these shreds and ends, 
We know not what the whole intends ; 
So when on earth things look but odd, 
They're working still some scheme of God. 

No plan, no pattern, can we trace, 
All wants proportion, truth, and grace ; 
The motley mixture we deride. 
Nor see the beauteous upper side. 

But when we reach that world of light. 
And view those w((rks of God aright, 
Then shall we see the whole design, 
And own the workman is divine. 

What now seem random strokes, will there 
All order and design appear; 
Then shall we praise what here we spurn'd 
For then the carpet shall he turn'd" 

" Thou'rt right," quoth Dick, " no more I'll grumble 
That this sad world's so strange a jumble ; 
My impious doubts ai-e put to flight, 
For my own ciirpet sets me right." 



CHAPTER XIL 

In the leafy month of June, Wilberforce made a bridal 
journey to Cowslip Green ; Miss More willingly abandoned 
the splendors of London, whither she annually went to 
visit a few of the old and well-beloved, to welcome the 
newly married. " By this coming," she says, " he prepaid 
a sort of vow, made many years since, — you will think 
it not amiss to make his agreeable wife set out with such 
an act of humility." 

On the following Sunday, in company with the sisters, 
he visited the schools of Shipham, Axbridge, and Cheddar, 
the last of which particularly delighted him : Cheddar 
then was not the Cheddar of his first visit, eight years be- 
fore, when the sight of its ignorant and wretched poor 
robbed him of the pleasure, which the beauties of the sur- 
rounding scenery might have otherwise afforded him. The 
Sabbath-school had been there, preaching its gospel of 
love, and waste homes and desolate hearts had begun to 



184 HANNAH MORE. 

bud and blossom like the rose. Wilberforce rejoiced and 
thanked God for the blessed sight. 

This year, 1797, had been marked by his marriage and 
the printing of his " Practical Christianity," for its publication 
had long been before the world, by his life, a living ej^istle, 
known and read by all men. Practical Christianity was 
then at a very low ebb ; there was little or no demand for 
religious reading, and many of his friends tried to dissuade 
him from issuing a work of this kind. 

" If you put your name to it, you may possibly sell five 
hundred copies," said his bookseller, looking as if he 
thought that extremely doubtful. But the hidden want 
of the times, widely felt, was yet little understood : a re- 
ligious book of its nature and spirit was needed, and when 
it appeared, the supply met a demand, at least in the 
material, for in a few days it was out of print. 

" I am truly thankful to Providence," says the excellent 
Bishop Porteus, " that a work of this nature has made its 
appearance at this tremendous moment. I pray God it 
may have a powerful and extensive influence upon the 
hearts of men, and in the first place upon my own, which 
is already humbled, and will, I trust, in time be sufficiently 
humbled by it." " Such a book at such a time, and by 
such a man !" exclaims Newton : " I accept it as a token of 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 185 

good, yea, as the brightest token I can discern in this dark 
and perilous day !" 

Fifteen editions issued from the EngHsh press ; twenty- 
five were sold in this country, and it holds a high place 
among the instrumentalities that gave a quickened impulse 
to that warm and more earnest piety, which has dis- 
tinguished the last half-century. 

While Wilberforce visits Cowslip Green in person, to 
take sweet counsel with Hannah More, and to join the sis- 
ters in their walks of usefulness, Newton remains by the 
sheep of his pasture, enjoying their society and sympathy, 
as fancy sketches them in the quiet of his study, or along 
the dust and din of Cheapside. " I am gone to the Vale 
of Mendip," writes he, " to Cowslip Green, to the Root 
House, where perhaps the ladies are just now assembled to 
breakfast. Oh ! could I actually see them, with what glee 
should I say, ' Good morning, ladies I' 

" Well, I must be content with ideal visits for the present, 
but not always : a day is approaching when we hope to 
have a joyful meeting indeed. I trust that Cowslip Green 
is holy ground, and all the inhabitants consecrated persons ; 
sprinkled, hke the priests of old, with the atoning blood, 
anointed with the holy unction, and devoted with united 
hearts, hands, and tongues, to do the will and to proclaim 



186 HANNAH MOKE. 

the praise of our God and Saviour. It is no wonder that 
I so long to be with them. 

" Indeed, I am with you in spirit, and I think this is 
more than a sally of the imagination ; the communion of 
saints, which we profess to believe, like the communion of 
the members of the body, is derived from a communication 
of life and spirits from the same common Head, by which 
they have reciprocal fellowship and fellow-feeling among 
themselves : and though believers, the salt of the earth, 
are scattered up and down, far and wide, to preserve 
the whole mass from putrefaction, they are one in Him. 
The supreme object of their love is as yet unseen. For His 
sake they love all who love Him, though it is but few of 
them comparatively that they can expect to see, until He 
shall collect them together in the great day of His appear- 
ance. The virtue of the heavenly magnet, which draws 
them all to himself, connects them at the same time with 
each other. Their aims, their hopes, and their spiritual 
sustenance are the same. Local distance neither discour- 
ages their mutual prayers, nor prevents their efficacy. 

" The shadows of evening are advancing upon me. If 
ever I see Mendip again, it must be by a bird's-eye view 
from the higher hill of Zion above. But I trust I 
bhall, at intervals, recollect with pleasure, the happy 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. IS*? 

week I passed at Cowslip Greeu, while I can remember 
anything." 

The New Year's day of 1*798 was solemnized by Han- 
nah More, by a renewed and more entire dedication of her- 
self to the service of her Heavenly Master. " Let me now 
give myself away with a more entire surrender than I have 
ever yet made," she records. 

" 1st. I resolve, by the grace of God, to be more watchful 
over my temper. 

" 2d. Not to speak rashly or harshly. 

" 3d. To watch over my thoughts, — not to indulge in 
vain, idle, resentful, impatient, worldly imaginations. 

"4th. To strive after closer communion with God. 

"5th. To let no hour pass without lifting up my heart 
to him, through Christ. 

" 6th. Not to let a day pass without some thought of 
death. 

" Yth. To ask myself every night, when I lie down, am 
I fit to die ? 

" 8th. To labor to do and to sufler the whole will of 
God. 

" 9th. To cure my over-anxiety, by casting myself on 
God, in Christ. 

" I resolve to pray at least twice a week, separately, for 



188 H A N N A H M K E. 

the country in this time of danger, independently of the 
petitions offered up in my other prayers. 

" Lord, grant that my religious advantages may never 
appear against me. Many temptations this week to vanity. 
Flattery without end. God be praised, I was not flattered : 
twenty-four hours' headache makes me see the vanity of 
all this ! Am I tempted to vanity ? Let me recall to mind 
the shining friends I have lost this year, — eminent each in 
his difterent way, yet he that is least in the kingdom of 
heaven is greater than either." 

Among these shining friends was Horace Walpole, 
whose twenty years of unclouded kindness and pleasant 
correspondence, Miss More could not give up without a 
sigh. 

As the best evidence of the earnestness of her piety, 
we find her this year extending her labors, and establish- 
ing a new school at Wedmore, the largest parish in the 
county, and deplorably ignorant. In the undertaking, she 
met with unnumbered trials : the farmers were very angry 
with her interference, as they called it, and were more hos- 
tile than any which the sisters had before encountered ; in 
superintending her workmen in a damp and unfinished 
building, to be used as a school-house, she took a violent 
cold, which threw her upon a sick bed for several weeks. 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 189 

Though harassed and opposed, she went bravely on : it 
was enough for her to know that the work was to be done, 
and that in Providence she seemed to have been the ap- 
l^ointed workman. 

Having partially recovered, Wilberforce came down from 
Bath, and carried her thither, to take the benefit of the 
waters, and to relieve her for a short time from the burden 
of her manifold labors. 

" I feel it rather base to steal off and leave poor Patty to 
work double tides," she wrote to Mrs. Kennicott. " We 
have in hand a new and very laborious undertaking ; but 
the object appeared to me so important that I did not 
feel myself at liberty to neglect it. 

" The opposition I have met with, in endeavoring to 
establish an institution for the religious instruction of these 
people would excite your astonishment : in spite of it, 
however, which far exceeds anything which I have met 
with, I am building a house and taking up things on such 
a large scale, that you must not be surprised if I get into 
debt. Providence, I trust, will carry me through the un- 
dertaking ; for, notwithstanding the active malevolence we 
experience, I have brought already three or four hundred 
under a course of instruction. The worst part of the story 
is, that thirty miles there and back is a little too much 



190 HANNAH MORE. 

these short days ; and when we get there our house has 
neither windows nor doors : but if we live till next summer, 
things will mend, and in so precarious a world as this is, a 
winter was not to be lost." 

Let those, who now grumble over the unthankful task 
of Sabbath-school teaching, and willingly abandon it on 
the merest pretence or without any excuse at all, look at 
the arduous and unremitted labors of this heroic woman ; 
here the work is laid out and you are solicited to engage 
in it, with all the various helps and advantages which 
Sabbath-school societies, papers, books, place within your 
reach, and the abundant encouragement, which fifty years' 
experience of their benefits can place before you. 

How should her example make us blush for our languor 
and sloth in our Master's service. 

Besides these active duties in well-doing, her pen had 
been busily employed in preparing " Strictures on Female 
Education," a work which appeared before the public in 
the beginning of the following year, and which abounds 
in sound and discriminating views. 

It is again curious to observe how applicable to our 
own age are the admonitions and advice of fifty years ago. 
The tendencies then, as now, were towards amusement 
rather than sobriety, fashionable accomplishments instead 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 191 

of valuable knowledge and practical industry, filial indepen- 
dence in place of filial obedience. 

The practical evils, which lie in the path of christian 
education from low and imperfect notions of what should 
be its chief aim, together with a false estimate of worldly 
advantages, are portrayed with great vigor and truth. 

Her pertinent question to the women of her own time, ■ 
may be asked with no less significance to ours, " Does it 
seem to be the true end of education to make women, 
dancers, singers, players, painters, actresses, sculptors, gil- 
ders, varnishers, engravers, and embroiderers ? 

''^ Most men are commonly destined to some profession, 
and their minds are consequently turned each to its re- 
spective object. Would it not be strange if they were 
called out to exercise their profession or^set up their trade, 
with only a little general knowledge of the trades and 
professions of all other men, and without any previous 
definite application to their own peculiar calhng? The 
profession of ladies to which the bent of their instruction 
should be turned, is that of daughters, wives, mothers and 
mistresses of families. They should be, therefore, trained 
with a view to these several conditions, and be furnished 
with a stock of ideas and principles, and qualifications and 
habits, ready to be applied and appropriated, as occasion 



192 HANNAH MORE. 

may demand, to eacli of these respective situations. For 
though the arts which merely embellish must claim ad- 
miration, yet when a man of sense comes to marry, it is a 
companion whom he wants, and not an artist. It is not 
merely a creature who can paint, and play, and sing, and 
draw, and dress, and dance; it is a being who can comfort 
and counsel him ; one who can reason and reflect, and feel 
and judge, and discourse and discriminate ; one who can 
assist him in his affairs, lighten his cares, strengthen his 
principles, and educate his children. 

" Almost any ornamental acquirement is a good thing, 
when it is not the best thing a woman has ; and talents 
are admirable, when not made to stand proxy for virtues." 

May not much of the want of success, the failures, the 
bankruptcy, the discouragements, the complaints of men 
in business, be traced to a wrong domestic education ? 
Are not " The Times," out of joint as they may be, saddled 
with more than justly belongs to them ? Have not ex- 
travagant habits somewhat to bear ? Are women sufficient- 
ly trained for a thorongh understanding of their house- 
hold duties ? Do not fashionable accomplishments usurp 
the place of domestic virtues? Turn which way we can, 
gild and ornament, and reason and sentimentalize as we 
may, life is life as it ever has been, full of practical evils. 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 193 

unwrought materials, and sore trials, which require an 
earnest purpose, a patient, courageous heart, and skilful 
hands to meet them, to subdue them and to convert them 
into present benefit or future good. 

Miss More's happy criticism upon the word " pleasant," 
it may not be amiss to introduce, for the benefit of many 
still among us, who are too apt to undervalue the greatest 
excellences of character, if their title to this quahty be found 
wanting. 

" There was a time when a variety of epithets were 
thought necessary to express various kinds of excellence, 
and when the different qualities of the mind were dis- 
tinguished by appropriate and discriminating terms : when 
the words, venerable, learned, sagacious, profound, acute, 
pious, worthy, ingenious, valuable, elegant, agreeable, wise,_ 
or witty, were used as specific marks of distinct characters. 
But the legislators of fashion have of late years thought 
proper to comprise all merit in one established epithet ; 
an epithet which, it must be confessed, is a very desirable 
one as far as it goes. This terra is exclusively and in- 
discriminately applied wherever commendation is intended. 
The word pleasant now seems to combine and express all 
moral and intellectual excellence. Every individual, from 
the gravest professoi*s of the gravest profession, down to 
17 



194 H.ANN AH MORE. 

the trifler who is of no profession at all, must earn the 
epithet of pleasant or must be contented to be nothing ; 
and must be consigned over to ridicule under the vulgar 
and inexpressive cant word of hove. This is the mortifying 
designation of many a respectable man, who, though of 
much worth and ability, cannot perhaps clearly make out 
his letters patent to the title of ^j/^asan^. For according 
to this modern classification there is no intermediate state, 
but all are comprised within the ample bounds of one or 
other of these two comprehensive terms." 

Her chapter upon Cbildren's Balls, which, she declares, 
are a triple conspiracy against the innocence, health, and 
happiness of children, would be likely to give almost as 
much offence now as it did then. The remark of a chris- 
tian mother in one of our cities, "that the increasing- 
prevalence of evening dancing parties, and late hours for 
young children, she could not consider but a serious evil, 
yet she felt she should be obliged to yield to the fashion, 
and suffer her girls to attend," revealed a sad defection in 
parental training, which it is to be feared is gaining ground 
in the religious community. 

Are not pious parents too much disposed to yield to 
fashionable requirement at the expense of their religious 
principles and christian profession ? Have we habitually 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 195 

and seriously in view the chief end, the main object, 
for which we profess to educate our childen ? alas, we fear 
not. 

Our children are to be educated as immortals as well 
as mortals, for the service of God as well as citizens of the 
world ; while we regard their temporal good with deep in- 
terest, their eternal welfare must still occupy the largest 
share of our anxieties and efforts. Under the burden of joy, 
and of new responsibility at their birth, we hasten to pre- 
sent them before the Lord, and enter into covenant with 
Him for His grace to aid us in training them for his ser- 
vice ; their spiritual entrance into his kingdom, with the 
consequent fruits of a holy life, is the one great thing aimed 
at and agonized for by parental love. To effect this, a ju- 
dicious religious education must be our chief concern. To 
guard the appetites and chasten the passions ; to make the 
conscience tender and the spirit teachable; to impart cor- 
rect tastes, to enable the young mind to form right judg- 
ments and firmly to act up to them ; rightly to instruct in 
the knowledge of God, and to take advantage of opportu- 
nities, when the ear is open, and the feelings are tender, to 
bring the young heart to its Saviour, — what a work is this, 
and what obstacles to oppose it ! How soon we perceive 
that the bias is everywliere downward : in the little bosom 



196 HANNAH MORE. 

is the growth of evil passions, and the walls of the nursery 
cannot keep out the contagion of evil influence, fitted to 
cherish them: there are foes all about the heavenward 
path of the little pilgrim, and shall the parent become its 
enemy ? Will you impart to your children tastes which 
must oppose an obstacle to a taste for religious duties and 
enjoyments ? Will you deliberately train them to amuse- 
ments which they must renounce to lead a life of piety ? 
You may, at first, see no harm lurking in the graceful 
snares and joyful excitement of the first dance, but cannot 
you look still farther and see that you are thrusting the 
child of your love beyond the prayers of the church, and 
estranging it farther and farther from the influence of the 
Holy Spirit ? And you do this by teaching it to love that 
amusement which most exposes it to frivolity and the 
spirit of a tempting and giddy world ; an amusement 
which banishes habitual thoughtfulness, and produces a dis- 
relish for the pure and peaceable exercises of a devout and 
humble life. Oh ! christian parents, think of these things. 
The " Strictures" were greatly commended ; letters of 
thanks, congratulation, encouragement, and praise poured 
in upon the author, from the old circle, Mrs. Boscawen, 
Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Chapone, Miss Carter, Mrs. Barbauld, 
and from many others less familiar to these pages. 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 197 

The sisters, Hannah and Patty, now went up to London 
for the benefit of a change, to both mind and body. Mrs. 
Boscawen was extremely feeble at this time ;— " God bless 
you, my dear madam," said Hannah, on coming away, 
fearing it might be the last meeting. 

" That is well," said the venerable lady, taking her by 
the hand, and looking steadfastly into her face, " that is 
well, but you must do more, you must pray for me, — I am 
going gently off." 

Miss Carter, now at eighty-three, was in the enjoyment 
of better health and spirits than usually fall to the lot of so 
advanced age, and the conversation of the friends, if not as 
sparkling and witty, savored of christian hopes and holy 

joys- 

Meanwhile troubles were brewing in one of the parishes 
where a school had been established, which, at the time, 
proved extremely vexatious and distressing to Miss More 
and her family ; viewed through the lapse of years, it 
seems strange that charges so utterly inconsistent with 
reason and fact could have been made against her, and that 
the affair could ever have assumed the dignity of a " con- 
troversy." 

A school had been established in the profligate parish 
of Blagdon, near Cowshp Green, at the earnest and re- 

T7* 



188 HANNAH MOKE. 

peated request of both curate and magistrate, for Miss 
More, on their first application, felt that she had neither 
strength nor means sufficient for any new undertaking : 
having consented, she paid particular attention to its wel- 
fare, and in a few years had the satisfiictiou of knowing 
that disorders, warrants, and indictments had almost en- 
tirely disappeared before the benign and beneficial influence 
of her Sunday instruction. For five years afiairs went 
smoothly on, when one of her schoolmasters, named 
Young, was charged, by the curate, Mr. Bere, with intro- 
ducing Methodism into his school, which, so far as we can 
learn, consisted in encouraging extemporaneous prayer, and 
speaking upon religious experience in a little meeting of a 
dozen poor neighbors for religious conversation : for this 
irregularity, as it was regarded, Miss More, who was then 
sick at Bath, gave him a timely reprimand, and the school 
went quietly on. Whether owing to some private pique 
or personal dislike, the curate was not to be so easily satis- 
fied : he began to preach against the schools, and brought 
up a new accusation against the schoolmaster, to the effect, 
that he had prevented a young man from entering his ser- 
vice by defaming his character. The matter was referred 
to the rector, Dr. Grossman, and afterwards to a local tri- 
bunal, the result of which was the dismissal of the school- 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 199 

master, and the breaking up of the school. Miss More ac- 
quiesced for peace sake, though she could not approve what 
her judgment did not sanction. Young had been in her 
service for ten years, and his exemplary conduct and faith- 
ful discharge of duty had won her confidence, not to be 
shaken by a single instance of irregular proceeding (for it 
is to be supposed, he never asked the poor neighbors to 
make another prayer), or any general charges, which could 
not be fully sustained : she recommended him to the pa- 
trons of a large charitable institution near Dublin, who, not 
long afterwards, appointed him superintendent, the duties 
of which he fulfilled with credit to himself, and to the sat- 
isfaction of his employers. 

Disbanding the school cost -her many struggles, for she 
loved it with a mother's tenderness. " It is with no small 
concern I have to inform you that we shall meet no more 
in this place," she said in her parting address to the httle 
flock who sat around her, with anxious looks and tearful 
eyes. " The Sunday-school, and the evening reading, the 
weekly school of industry, are all at an end. Before we 
part, it is but justice to you to declare that my sister and I 
have never had more comfort from the teachable and duti- 
ful behavior of any children, nor more satisfaction from the 
sober and decent conduct of any parents, than we have ex- 



200 HANNAH MORE. 

perienced in this place. You \yill give the best evidence that 
you have profited by our instructions, and those of your 
master, by carrying the religion you have been taught on 
Sunday into the business of the week, and the behavior of 
your daily life. I shall hold that person's religious profession 
very cheap indeed, who is not hereafter sober, peaceable, 
industrious, and forgiving. Be diligent in your attendance 
at church twice a day. Show that you fear God, by keep- 
ing his commandments and reverencing his ministers : 
show that you ' know the King,' by submitting to all that 
are in authority under him, especially to magistrates. Mr. 
Young has proved himself, during eight years' service, an 
honest and upright man, and an able and faithful school- 
master. You are greatly indebted to him, and can reward 
him in no other way but by living in such a manner as 
shall be a credit to his instructions. He will continue in 
this place, of which he is a parishioner, till he can set- 
tle himself elsewhere ; but I earnestly request that, though 
you treat him as a kind friend and neighbor, you do not, 
either by many or by few, resort to him for instruction. 

" Young men ! let me exhort you to be sober-minded : 
avoid the snares and corruptions of the world, against 
which you have been so long guarded, and to which, at 
your season of life, you will be so much exposed. My 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 201 

young women ! so long the objects of our tender care and 
concern ! I commit you to the protection of God. He can, 
and I trust He will, raise up better friends than we have 
been to you. In any case He will Himself be your friend 
if you walk in the paths in which you have been trained. 
He will never leave you nor forsake you. As those hours 
on Sunday evenings which you have been accustomed to 
pass in this house are the seasons of the greatest dangers 
to your youth and ignorance, watch well, I beseech you, 
over yourselves. You are now furnished with Bibles ; 
you have been taught to read and understand them ; so 
that, if you now fell into sin, you will no longer have the 
former excuse of ignorance to plead. We have this day 
repeated our annual gift of forty Bibles and Common 
Prayer-books, the usual number of Bishop Gartrell's 'In- 
stitutes,' Bishop Beveridge's 'Private Thoughts,' Dod- 
dridge's ' Rise and Progress of Religion,' for the elder, 
with some hundreds of Cheap Repository and other small 
tracts, for younger ones. To the use of these you must 
add jjrayer to God for His grace and direction. Though 
what little we have done here is mixed with much imper- 
fection, yet I trust the general design and tendency of it 
has been right. 
. " We shall never think of the five years that are past 



202 HANNAH MORE. 

without being thankful for what has been done, and with- 
out wishing we had done more and better. To the prin- 
cipal farmers and heads of the parish we are obliged for 
their approbation and countenance of the school, and 
their kindness to the master and mistress. Being willing 
to leave a last testimony of our regard to the poor, wc 
have deposited in the hands of your respectable church- 
warden, five guineas, to be applied to a general subscrip- 
tion, in case the scarcity should make such a measure 
necessary, or otherwise to be disposed of at his direction 
and that of the vestry." 

What a tender concern, what a generous interest is 
displayed in this brief forewell : no censure or blame issues 
from her lips, nothing that can encourage discord or rankle 
in the heart ; it was a gospel of peace and good-will to 
the little community. 

The Rector having afterwards learned that the breaches 
of discipline of which the schoolmaster had been accused 
had never been repeated after Miss More's i-eprimand, no 
other charges having been preferred against him. Dr. Cross- 
man, by the advice of the Bishop, dismissed Mr. Bere 
from the curacy, and requested Miss More to re-open the 
schools: this request was warmly seconded by her own 
aSectionate interest in the little Blagdon flock, and accord- 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 203 

iDgly she re-assembled them around her on the 25th of 
January, 1801. 

Neither was the curate so easily to be got rid of 5 
having' committed no ecclesiastical or moral offence, he 
could not be deprived of his office, and there he remained 
at Blagdon, a thorn in the side of all Miss More's en- 
deavors : to disarm his hostility, in August, she again 
closed the schools, never to re-open. The British Critic 
and Anti- Jacobin Review, lent their pages to this con- 
troversy, which continued to be carried on with the utmost 
bitterness and personal abuse. Miss More's labors, charac- 
ter, and religious views were violently assailed; she was 
accused of Jacobinism, disloyalty, Methodism, nay, of 
French infidelity, and farther still, one of her enemies pub- 
licly declared she had hired two men to shoot him, and 
that she had been concerned with Charlotte Corday in the 
assassination of Marat. A bill was posted up on the 
Blagdon turnpike, showing the lengths to. which men may 
be carried by the angry heats of party, even to the utter 
disregard of all that is honorable or decent : — 

" Just imported from Barbary by Baron Munckhausen 
a large collection of strange beasts, which the Baron has 
had the honor of exhibiting before the Bishop of London 
and his party with great applause, and may be seen at any 



20^4 HANNAH M O K E. 

time of the day in a new-built Caravan at the sign of the 
Green Cowslip, in the parish of Wrington, at thirteen and a 
half pence each. The collection consists of five female sava- 
ges (the Misses More) of the most desperate kind, one black 
bear (Mr. Bere) which they wounded with a poisoned dart 
•while he was guarding his young ones." 

Sharp and severe were these trials to the sistei*s, es- 
pecially to Hannah and Patty, whose labors were already 
crippled, and whose usefulness in the other parishes might 
be seriously injured in future by the unscrupulous charges 
and bitter satires of their adversaries. 

Grieved and wounded to the quick, Hannah writes to 
Wilberforce : " In Blagdon is ' still a voice heard, lamenta- 
tion and mourning,' and at Cowslip 'liachel is still weep- 
ing for her children, and refused to be comforted because 
they are not' instructed. This heavy blow has almost 
bowed me to the ground. It was only last night I began 
to get a little ^eep. My reason and my religion know 
that it is permitted by that gracious Being, who uses 
sometimes bad men for his instruments ; but reason and 
religion do not operate much upon the nerves. I doubt 
not but that He who can bring much real good out of 
much seeming evil, will eventually turn this shocking- 
business to his glory. Though I knew that Bere and his 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 205 

adherents had spread abroad the most flagitious reports 
respecting my pohtical and religious principles, yet I own 
I was inexpressibly shocked the other night at Patty's 
receiving from the Bishop of London, a most ambiguous 
and alarming note, expressing the utmost terror on my 
account, yet refusing to explain himself; saying if what 
was reported were true, she would understand what he 
meant. All we can collect from this obscure giving out, 
what out of tenderness he seems to have half concealed, is, 

that this mock trial has been fabricated by B 's emissai'ies 

into an oflicial one, and that I am found guilty of sedition, 
and, perhaps, taken up and sent to prison. Remember 
this is mere surmise. Have you had any communication 
with the Bishop of London, or have these strange reports 
reached you ? 

" I mean to re-read for the fiftieth time, your chapter on 
the overvaluing of human estimation. I have perhaps 
been too anxious on that head. Yet few people have cared 
less about general opinion, except as it has attacked me in 
that vital vulnerable part, on which one's usefulness de- 
pends. 

" I have had a return of my complaint, and am still very 
poorly. Patty behaves nobly, and only works the harder 
for all these attacks ; she has been, in all this weather, on 
18 



206 HANNAH MORE. 

a three days' mission to Wedmore, where thiugs look very 
smiling : our persecutocs have become our admirers, now 
they say they have seen our goings on, and that we are 
not methody people ; and that rich farmer who presented 
us at the visitation for teaching French principles, sends 
his own family to the school and the reading, both of 

which are very full ; but I greatly dread B 's success at 

Blagdon will induce a second visit to Wedmore, where he 
first stirred up the opposition. My wounds are still fresh 
and raw, and want much wine and oil — this your kind 
letters never fail to administer, but I hope I strive to 
look for higher and better consolations ; and that these 
may be gi-anted me, I am persuaded I have your prayers." 
Again she writes, " Mr. Whalley has done himself great 
honor by writing a strong and very spirited state of the 
case to the Bishop, expressing his strong conviction of the 
moral benefit to the country from all my schools, his firm 
belief in the integrity of the Blagdon master, and describ- 
ino- at larii-e his havino- witnessed, together with Dr. Mac" 
laiue, Mrs. Holroyd, aud many other equally respectable 
testimonies, the conduct of the school for a whole Sunday, 
the practical and useful mode of instruction given them, 
and the regularity and good order of the parish. I own I 
did think his testimonv would have been of use. But it 



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION. 20V 

was very coolly received. The man had ;prayed extem- 
'pore — lie might be a Calvinist : the church was in danger. 
My dear friend, I have prayed and struggled earnestly not 
to be quite subdued in my mind — but I cannot command 
my nerves, and though pretty well during the bustle of 
the day, yet I get such disturbed and agitated nights, that 
I could not answer for my lasting if the thing were to go 
on much longer ; this is such a specimen of the state of 
religion, that /, too, really think the church is in danger, 
though in another and far more awful sense." 

For three years the persecution continued with unabated 
violence, to which was added a distressing illness, which 
confined her to the house for seven months ; but Hannah 
More had consolations, which the world could neither give, 
nor take away ; she leaned upon an almighty arm. 

"The calumnies are of too dreadful a nature to be 
borne," she exclaimed, " except from a full conviction that 
it is the will of God, who is pleased thus to exercise me for 
my purification. Who knows but in the final issue of 
things, I may have reason to think these bad men are my 
best friends, having never before tasted anything but 
dangerous prosperity or unmerited praise." 

Hitherto we have only seen Hannah More borne on 
favoring gales; her London acquaintance rejoiced in her 



208 HANNAH MORE. 

society and celebrity; fame and friends followed her to 
Cowslip Green ; her home missionary labors, difficult and 
arduous as they had been, were crowned with success ; her 
works ranked her among the revered and honored of Eng- 
land ; prosperity, we know, is neitlier fevorable to piety nor 
self-knowledge ; but the hour of trial came, from those 
whose teeth were spears and arrows, and whose tongue a 
sharp sword. She bows to the chastening, and with the 
eye of faith, sees mercy in the rod. 

" If it please God thus to put an end to my little (how 
little !) usefulness, I Lope to be enabled to submit to his 
will, not only to submit to it, because I cannot help it, but 
to acquiesce in it, because it is holy, just and good.^'' 

Here is the childlike submission of a true servant of 
God. Though her reputation, her character, her labors 
were seemingly at stake, no words of anger, of recrimina- 
tion, or of sinful repining, issue from her lips. Conscious 
of her innocence as far as regards her fellow-men, she 
oflfers neither defence nor exculpation : her chief desire is 
spiritual improvement ; an increased purity of heart and a 
more humble reliance upon the Lord her strength. When 
Dr. Beadon succeeded Dr. Moss to the see of Bath and 
Wells, she deemed it a duty to lay before him a plain 
statement of the matter, lest he might be led to disapprove 



TRIALS AND OTPOSITION. 209 

of her schools, in which case, she must defer to his opinions 
and rehnquish them altogether. 

Her letter is plain, straightforward, and full of that 
candor and directness which so eminently characterized her 
writing. 

" ' Blessed are ye when men revile and persecute you and 
say all manner of evil against you falsely^ and for ' my 
name's sake.' When I consider whose words are these," 
wrote Newton to his afflicted friend, " I am more disposed 
to congratulate than to condole with you, on the unjust 
and hard treatment that you have met with. 

" Yet I do feel for you. These things are not joyous but 
grievous at the time ; it is afterwards that they yield 
the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Cheer up, my friend, 
tarry thou the Lord's leisure. Be strong, and he shall 
comfort thy heart." 

Among the heavy and conflicting charges laid against 
Miss More in this controversy, were those of teaching 
Calvinism, sympathizing with the Methodists, and encourag- 
ing Dissenters. Though firmly attached to her church 
and to her state, and to church and state. Miss More was 
less a church woman than a Christian. 

" Bible Christianity is what I love," said she, " that does 
18* 



210 HANNAH MORE. 

not insist upon opinions indifferent in themselves — a Chris- 
tianity practical and pure, which teaches holiness, humility, 
repentance, and faith in Christ : and which, after summing- 
up all the evangelical graces, declares that the greatest of 
these is charity." 

No better description than this could be given of her 
rehgious character : it grew out of large, intelligent, experi- 
mental views of Bible Christianity. No other Christianity 
but that which is drawn directly from the pure Word 
of God can give equal symmetry and comprehensiveness ; 
that can blend in such just propoi'tion, the deepest self- 
abasement and the mcst trusting faith, with the greatest 
amount of usefulness and good works. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Visitors without number flocked to Cowslip Green, 
until Cowslip Green was quite too straitened for the 
fame and hospitality of its mistress. She now projected a 
new house, more ample and commodious, upon a swell of 
land half a mile from Wrington, commanding a wider 
sweep of hill and valley, of hamlet and green ; the pecu- 
liar beauty of the situation led one of her fi-iends to call it, 
" the gift of an all-wise Providence, to soothe her after all 
her troubles." 

In the planning and planting of her grounds. Miss 
More hoped to regain that tranquillity of mind, and 
strength of body, which the rude and unprovoked assaults 
of her enemies had seriously impaired. 

Barley Wood became her residence in 1801. 

Hitherto the sisters had divided their time between Bath 
and Wrington : they now determined to give up the care 



212 HANNAH MORE. 

and expense of a divided dwelling and a bustling town, 
and spend the remainder of their days at Barley Wood. 

" Lord, grant that this prove a blessing to us all and 
draw us nearer to Him," exclaims Hannah ; " make us 
thankful that our lot has fallen in so pleasant a place, that 
we have a goodly heritage, but let us not take up with so 
poor a portion as this life, or anything in it." 

Barcley Wood became a centre of no common interest. 
If the eye delighted to Huger on the distant landscape, the 
garden soon oftered scarcely inferior charms ; fruits and 
blossoms dwelt in social sweetness, 

" Along its blusliing borders, briglit with dew, 
And in yon mingled Avililerness of flowers, 
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace." 

Bright carnations, gay, spotted pinks, the daisy, primrose, 
violet, break 

" On the charmed eye, and the delighted florist marks. 
With secret pride, the wonders of her hand." 

Nor within is there a less pleasing diversity. Each sister 
has her assigned place in the household. There sits Miss 
Mary, already past sixty, plain in her manners, and pointed 



BARLEY WOOD. 213 

ill her speech ; who allows herself no indulgences, or suf- 
fers no impropriety to pass without rebuke. Miss Mary- 
More we venture to say, is no favorite with pretenders of 
any sort : she has a key to unlock their characters, which 
no one likes the using. Here is the ivife of Barley Wood, 
as some call her, Miss Ehzabeth, so gentle, so loving, full 
of the milk of human kindness ; her presence, like a good 
angel, is everywhere felt, regulating, smoothing, harmoniz- 
ing, and her work-basket, like Dorcas', is fitted with coats 
and garments for the poor. 

Sally More is bright and intellectual, like Hannah. 
Prosy More she was called by intimates, not, however, for 
her dulness, but in distinction from Hannah, who was 
named Poetry. Sarah wrote two novels in her early days, 
and her original sayings were without number; indeed, 
they declared she was a living contradiction of Solomon's 
position, there was nothing new under the sun. 

Many of the tracts of the Cheap Repository issued from 
her pen, and were read with lively interest. The star of 
the sphere is Hannah : she is v>^orld-known now, and everj^- 
body comes to see her, some from curiosity, some for ad- 
vice, some for friendship, some to be famous ; some to ad- 
mire, some to envy. She is affable and accessible to all ; 
there are lines of suffering upon her face, yet it is beaming 



214 HANNAH MORE. 

with benevolence ; the pressure of sickness is often heavy, 
but her elastic spirit seldom yields : she thinks, and plans, 
and works, and reads, even on the sick bed. 

Barley Wood was stored with comforts; these could 
lighten and alleviate, but they could not ward off the in- 
firmities of life. On her first entrance to her new home, 
she was confined to her chamber, and, " This puts me in 
mind," she says, " of the old remark, that the first spot of 
earth of which Abraham took possession, in the land of 
Promise, was a grave !" 

Among the children of England, who were sporting in 
her stately halls, or starving at her cottage doors, one little 
girl there was, on whose fair head rested a nation's hopes, 
and around whose bud of being clustered the manifold in- 
terests of a mighty empire. She found her way to the 
heart of every English mother, and was remembered at 
every household altar ; wise men talked of her, and good 
men prayed for her. Among the royal household there 
was none dearer tlian she, for to the winsomeness of child- 
liood were added the snares and prerogatives of a princely 
birth. 

To the loyal heart of Hannah More the education of 
the Princess Charlotte could hardly fail to become a most 
important subject. Nor is it surprising that the gifted 
teacher in hall and cottao-e should have been solicited to 



BARLEY WOOD. 215 

funiish from the rich stores of her experience, principles 
and suggestions that might afford valuable helps to those 
who had the charge of it. 

With these views she wrote " Hints towards forming the 
Character of a Young Princess," dedicated to Dr. Fisher, 
Bishop of Exeter, who had just been appointed Preceptor 
to the royal pupil. Copies were presented to the king and 
queen, the prince and princess, who all alike bore testimony 
to its excellence. Sir Alexander Johnson sent it to the 

Rajah of to be translated into the Mahratta language, 

for the use of his favorite daughter. Kot having the 
speedy introduction to this country as her other works had 
done, she understood it was excluded by our republican 
principles ; when informed that it was actually in circula- 
tion, she was much gratified, exclaiming, " I have con- 
quered America." Richard Rush, Esq., of Philadelphia, 
wrote her that he saw in it full as much of what is elevated, 
and more of what is practically useful than Telemachus, 
and that he had intended his son should read Telemachus 
through every year from sixteen to twenty. The Hints 
would form a very good companion to accompany it. 

On the Vth of January, 1804, among the particular 
mercies which crowned her days, she enumerated, " Con- 
siderable restoration of my health and spirits, personal and 



216 HANNAH MORE. 

family comforts continued, fiimily misfortunes averted, op- 
portunities of doing some good, our schools continued, 
kindness of friends, ability to enjoy my sweet place, escape 
from the turbulent life of Bath, increased opportunities of 
reading and retirement, for which she desires to have an 
abiding and lively gratitude — though for all earthly bless- 
ings we should pray only with entire submission to the Di- 
vine will ; while in praying for spiritual blessings, no re- 
serve, no caution, no limit is necessary. 

" Lord, pour out the grace of Ih}^' Holy Spirit on me and 
mine without measure ; teach us to love Thee with all our 
hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and to devote the re- 
mainder of our lives to thy service, and to the glory of our 
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." 

This month closed her correspondence with Mrs. Bos- 
cawen, one among the first and most devoted of the 
circle of London friends. 

" Yes, my very excellent and dear friend," ran her last 
letter, " I must send one word sooner or later, in return for 
the kindest of letters, which was a cordial to me ; that one 
word must express the truest gratitude for such remem- 
brance, the most constant affection, and the sincerest satis- 
faction in the news of your better health ; so happily pro- 



BARLEY WOOD. 217 

vided for by your own wisdom and activity, in removing 
from tbe vale below, and pjinting yourself so delightfully 
on a hill. 

" I desire the continuance of your prayers for me, my 
dear friend. For, oh ! what is it to live so long ! It is, 
you will answer, the will of Him ' in whom we live, and 
move, and have our being.' 

" Mrs. Carter was taken ill while dining with Mrs. Ire- 
monger, but is better to-day. ■ Adieu, my dear friend." 

But the hand is soon still in death, and her spirit re- 
leased from the sorrows and changes of a long and check- 
ered life : forty volumes of the Port Royal authors were 
left to increase the library of her friend, and recall the 
memory of days long gone by 

Sickness again visited Barley Wood, and for a year Miss 
More seemed hovering on the confines of the grave ; it 
was a period of sorrowful suspense to every one who 
shared her friendship, or knew her worth : anxious inqui- 
ries were daily made at the gate, and prayers for her re- 
covery ascended from many a humble roof ; nor was this 
solicitude confined within the cottage homes which had 
been comforted by her bounty, and lighted by her instruc- 
tions : every post brought letters of inquiry and sympathy 
from their numerous friends, and at last, their fears 
19 



218 HANNAH MORE. 

■were put to rest, by tlie grateful prospect of returning 
health. 

Meanwhile good and ill are sowing joy and sorrow 
around other hearts and homes. Cheddar, their first love, 
has sustained a severe loss in the death of its excellent 
curate, and the faithful coadjutor of the sisters in their 
labors of love : his plain preaching and pious life had 
been greatly blessed to the people of his charge; from 
fifteen, in a few years, the church increased to one hundred 
and twenty, who gave diligent heed to maintain a con- 
science void of offence. 

" You would weep over Cheddar," said Miss More to 
Wilberforce, who loved Cheddar also, "if you saw the 
change occasioned by the death of Drewitt; no resident 
minister, only a galloper from Wells on Sunday, to a 
twelve minutes' sermon — of course the meeting thins." 

A blessed era in humanity approaches. The great ob- 
ject, to which Wilberforce had devoted the prime of his 
life and the strength of his manhood, was on the eve of 
completion. Slowly, and steadily had the cause of aboli- 
tion gained upon the conscience of the English people ; in 
spite of defeats, distrust, and discouragements without num- 
ber, the spring of 1806 brought blossoms of hope with the 
promise of a golden issue. The London Committee, after 



BARLEY WOOD. 219 

an interval of seven years, re-assembled in Palace-yard, 
an array of evidence was ready at any moment to go 
before the House of Lords, Wilberforce wrote a powerful 
appeal to tLe English public upon the Slave-trade, and all 
the agencies which could be brought to action were again 
marshalled and concentrated for the approaching crisis. 

On the 2 2d of February, the first reading of the bill 
took place before the House of Lords : it was a night of 
agitation and excitement, of fear and hope : the vote stood 
72 to 28. 

" Oh Lord, let me praise Thee with my whole heart !" 
ejaculates Wilberforce. 

The House of Commons is grappling with it on the 23d. 

Men speak boldly for justice and humanity; they are 
in earnest, and who shall gainsay them ? The opposition 
was feeble and loose. 

One of the members called upon men that day, to 
mark how much the rewards of virtue were superior to 
those of ambition ; to contrast the feelings of Napoleon in 
his greatness, with those of that honored individual who 
should that night lay his head upon the pillow and re- 
member that through his agency the Slave-trade was no 
more. Every eye was directed towards Wilberforce, and a 
sudden burst of applause rang through the house. 



220 HANNAH MORE. 

The vote stood 283 to 16. A month afterwards it 
came for a third reading before the House of Lords ; two 
days afterwards, the Bill received the royal sanction and 
became a law. 

" Oh, what thanks do I owe the Giver of all Good, for 
bringing me in his Gracious Providence to this great cause? 
which at length, after nineteen years of labor, is successful !" 
exclaims the master-spirit of this exulting scene. 

" To speak of fame and glory to Mr. Wilberforce, would 
be to use language far beneath him," said Sir James 
Mackintosh, "but he will surely consider the effect of his 
triumph on the fruitfulness of his example. Who know^s 
but the greater part of the benefit, which he has conferred 
upon the world, may not be the encouraging example that 
the exertions of virtue may be crowned with such splendid 
success ? How precious is time ! How noble and sacred 
is human nature, made capable of achieving such truly 
great exploits." 

" What a promise of happiness does it bear to millions 
and hundreds of millions of our species !" wrote Mr. Ste- 
phens, the husband of Miss Wilberforce, to Hannah More, 
" and from what a load of odious guilt and shame does it 
deliver our country !" 



BARLEY WOOD. 221 

We may well suppose it a day of rejoicing at Barley 
Wood, and especially within the sick chamber of her, who 
penned, nearly twenty years before, 

" What page of human annals can record 
A deed so bright as human rights restor'd ? 
Oh may that god-hke deed, that shining page, 
Redeem our fame, and consecrate cmr age ! 
And let this glory mark our favored shore, 
To curb faUe freedom and the true restore." 

But the excellent Bishop Porteus, who with grateful 
joy beheld this triumph of a most righteous cause, and 
whose friendship and encouragement had been dew and 
sunshine to the spirit of Hannah. More, was now gently 
passing away. After his eye had become dim and his 
natural force abated, he visited Barley Wood, and spent a 
few days in her society, a few days golden with the 
treasured experience of a long friendship. 

Similarity of taste and character seems early to have 
drawn them together ; she was a frequent guest at Fulham 
Palace, where his sweetness of temper, playful wit, and 
innocent cheerfulness delighted the society of his more 
intimate friends, while he exercised the functions of his 
19* 



222 HANNAH MORE. 

high office with zeal and judgment, for the promotion of 
true religion and the best interests of humanity. 

A few weeks before his death, Miss More received from 
him a short and hurried note, begging her intercession at 
the Throne of Mercy for divine aid on a difficult duty 
which devolved upon him : " My great hope and resource 
is, what I have always had recourse to in such cases, 
prayer — ^give me then your frequent and fervent prayers, 
and I shall hope for that most powerful protection of a 
Gracious Providence, which I am convinced has never 
failed in similar cases" — the nature of the duty, he did 
not unfold, but on the third day, she received the assurance 
that Prayer had had its usual effect, and all was well. 
How sublime a closing was this to his long and useful 
life ! Just ready to lay aside his official robes for the 
winding-sheet, a report reached him that a club had been 
instituted under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, 
whose sittings were to be on Sunday ; a sacred and strict 
observance of this holy day, the Bishop having always 
considered of vital importance to the community and 
church, this public desecration of it, by those in high 
station, filled him with sorrow and alarm. Rallying his 
wasted strength, he resolved to seek an audience with his 
prince ; and having arrived at Carlton House, leaning on 



BARLEY WOOD. 223 

the arms of his attendants, he was led into his presence, 
when in solemn and earnest language he besought him 
not to violate the sanctity of the Sabbath, and lend his 
example to that, which must end in corrupting the morals 
and degrading the church. The Prince heard and yielded ; 
and the servant of God departed in peace : a few more 
days, and he entered upon a Sabbath of eternal rest. Miss 
More erected a cenotaph to his memory on her grounds at 
Barley Wood, bearing the inscription : — 

TO 

BEILBY PORTEUS, 

LATE LORD BIS 11 OP OF LONDON, 
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF LONG AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIP. 

H. M. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

/ailing %tut^. 

In the summer of 1810 we find Miss More making a 
tour among some good and agreeable friends in Gloucester, 
reviving the friendships of earlier days, and adding many 
new ones to the already extended hst. 

" I have been visiting," she writes to Mrs. Kennicott, " the 
scenes where we used to gipsy, and traced many a spot 
where I had picked dry sticks to boil the tea-kettle, under 
a shady oak, or broiled a r atton-chop on knitting-needles. 
The companions of our h .rmless rambles are all gone." 

Dead leaves are strewing her way, and long shadows 
hover among the mellow tints of autumn. 

Mrs. Montagu, sprightly and beautiful e\en at fourscore, 
had gone, and a volume of her letters was already before 
the public : they were her first lettei^, facts of an early cor- 
respondence with the daughter of the Earl of Oxford, com- 
menced when she was but eleven years. Her friend and 
intimate, Elizabeth Carter, lived only a year or two longer, 



FALLING LEAVES. 225 

surrounded by all that could make long life venerable and 
attractive, " honor, love, obedience, and troops of friends." 

Miss More has passed threescore years of her pilgrimage, 
and more, and if there be an abatement of bodily vigor, 
there is no slackness of the spiritual energies, the hidden 
fires that glow within. In spite of tormenting bile," a bur- 
densome correspondence, and almost incessant company, 
time and strength have not been wanting to write " Prac- 
tical Piety," one of her favorite works in this country, and 
one which is far superior to many works of a kindred char- 
acter that have superseded it. After describing what 
Christianity is as an internal principle, she thus unfolds its 
practical influence upon man, in relation to his fellows. 
" The love of God, as it is the only source of every right 
feeling and action, so it is the only principle which neces- 
sarily involves the love of our fellow-creatures. There is a 
love of partiality, but not of benevolence ; of sensibility, 
but not of philanthropy ; of friends and favorites, of par- 
ties and societies, but not of men collectively. It is true, 
we may and do, without this principle, relieve his distresses, 
but Ave do not bear with his faults. We may promote his 
fortune, but we do not forgive his offences ; above all, we 
are not anxious for his immortal interests. We could not 
see him want, without pain, but we can see him sin with- 



226 HANNAH MORE. 

out emotion. We could not hear of a beggar perishing 
at our door, without horror, but we can, without concern, 
witness an acquaintance dying without repentance. Is it 
not strange that we must j^articipate something of the di- 
vine nature, before we can really love the human ? It 
seems to be an insensibihty to sin, rather than want of be- 
nevolence to mankind, that makes us naturally pity their 
temporal, and be careless of their spiritual wants : but 
does not this very insensibihty proceed from a want of love 
to God ?" 

This discriminating extract may, perhaps, help us to 
form something like a correct estimate of what is some- 
times called "sentimental benevolence," " the rose and pink 
philanthropy," which evely now and then blubbers over 
human suflfering, as if nobody knew or cared for it before. 
Some think everything of it, and hope all things from it : 
others rate it very low, calling it good for nothing. What 
is it really worth ? 

It really feels for the disorders which afflict humanity, 
at least, while it lasts ; it really desires to relieve them, 
and sets about reforming some of the external and more 
prominent evils, in the hope that if they are cured, those 
of lesser note will naturally flat away, and society, in the 
end, will be righted. Sin is regarded as accidental, rather 



FALLING LEAVES. 227 

than radical ; an excuse, rather than a cause ; poverty 
a penahty for wealth, rather than a consequence of idleness 
and unthrift ; restraint, discipline, and punishment the in- 
exorable decrees of the few, instead of the necessary safe- 
guards for the many ; reformation of institutions is more 
aimed at than regeneration of principles. But it is found 
to be a far more difficult and perplexing work than was 
counted for : it is hke stopping the leaks of an old building 
with sand ; it gets soon discouraged at the hopeless nature 
of its task ; yet, unwilling to abandon it, still anxious to 
seem to do even when it knows not what to do, or where 
to begin, it runs to find fault with those who continue 
patiently laboring, because so much still remains to be 
done, and rail at their instruments without oflfering them 
better. The truth is, this philanthropy springs from the 
natural sensibilities and sympathies of the heart, which are 
amiable, rather than efficient ; self-loving, rather than self- 
sacrificing ; the parent of feeling, more than of principle ; 
partaking more of the demagogue than the true patriot. 

The disordered state of the world, it must be confessed, 
is painful and perplexing in the extreme : but the disease 
lies at the heart and in the core of society, and there is no 
love for man but that which springs fi-om love to God, 
which is strong and faithful enough to work for his salva- 



228 HANNAH MORE. 

tion. The maxims, motives, and aims which control man 
are wrong, and nothing but the reception of those princi- 
ples which God has given in the gospel of his Son, can 
essentially improve his inward, or better his outward con- 
dition. While much, very much may be done to benefit 
and reform the institutions of society, evils still remain 
which admit of no cure, but which must be patiently 
borne ; and it is surely far more difficult to bear each other's 
burden than to comfort with the promise of removing 
them. In attempting, then, to do any permanent good to 
our fellows, we must not only relieve their distresses, but 
amend their principles ; not only promote their temporal 
welfare, but be careful for their immortal interests ; not only 
excite their activity, but teach them submission ; not only 
give them alms, but forgive their ojftences. To do this, 
you must be patient and pains-taking, continuing on, 
yet ever forbearing. You must lay your account with in- 
gratitude and improvidence, disappointment and reproach. 
You must meet evils with manliness, and exigencies with- 
out fear or disheartening. You are to expend no unavail- 
ing sympathy, to utter no useless complaints, to offer no 
affected condolence, to make no false promises. Your duty 
is to labor and to ivait. In order to do this, you must love 
your fellow-men, because Christ loves them ; suffer for 



FALLING LEAVES. 229 

them, because He suffered for them ; labor for them, be- 
cause He died for them. 

" Practical Piety" cannot be too highly recommended ; 
it should be in every library, as well as in every heart: 
it is a book for our serious and thoughtful moments, when 
we desire to inquire calmly, and seek sincerely after that 
obedience which is " perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 
Its expression differs somewhat from religious works of a 
later growth ; it contains no fervid appeals, no declamatory 
entreaties, no exaggerated or one-sided estimates, no start- 
ling phrases ; it discourses earnestly of our duties and 
dangers as professed servants of God ; it deals candidly 
and plainly, telling us what we are and what we must be ; 
it shows that no superficial obedience can stand in place of 
an entire surrender of the whole man to the service of 
God ; it allows no partial standard, or low estimate, or 
sluggish action in the christian life. 

"Many are reformed," it tells us, "on human motives, 
many are only partially reformed ; but those only who, as 
our great poet says, are ' reformed altogether^ are converted. 
There is no complete reformation of the conduct effected 
without a revolution in the heart. Ceasing from some 
sins ; retaining others in a less degree ; or adopting such 
as are merely creditable ; or flying from one sin to another, 
20 



230 HANNAH MOKE. 

or ceasing from the external act without any internal 
change of disposition, is not christian reformation. The 
natural bias must be changed. The actual offence will no 
more be pardoned than cured, if the inward corruption 
be not eradicated. To be ' alive unto God, through Jesus 
Christ,' must follow 'death unto sin.' There cannot be 
new aims and ends, where there is not a new principle to 
produce them." 

" It is not casting a set of opinions into a mould and a 
set of duties into a system, which constitutes the christian 
religion. The circumference must have a centre, the body 
must have a soul, the performances must have a principle. 
Outward observances were wisely constituted to rouse our 
forgetfulness, to awaken our secular spirits, to call back our 
negligent hearts. They were designed to execute holy 
thoughts, to quicken us to holy deeds, but not to be used 
as equivalents to either. 

" Nothing short of a uniform and stable principle, that 
fixedness in religion which directs a man in all his actions, 
aims, and pursuits, to God as his ultimate end, can give 
consistency to his character or tranquilHty to his soul." 

In speaking of the importance of correcting small faults 
and cherishing the minor virtues, these making up the 
sum of human character, it says, " The reason why what 



FALLING LEAVES. ^31 

are called religious people often differ so little from others 
in small trials is, that instead of bringing rehgion to their 
aid in their lesser vexations, they either leave the disturb- 
ance to prey upon their minds or apply to false reliefs for 
its removal. Those who are rendered unhappy by frivolous 
troubles, seek comfort in frivolous enjoyments. But we 
should apply the same remedy to ordinary trials, i\s to 
great ones ; for as small disquietudes spring fi*om the 
same cause as great ones, namely, the uncertain and imper- 
fect condition of human nature, so they require the same 
remedy. You would apply to religion on the loss of your 
child — apply to it on the loss of your temper. As no 
calamity is too great for the power of piety to mitigate, so 
none is too small to experience its beneficial results. Our 
behavior under the ordinary accidents of life form a 
characteristic distinction between different classes of Chris- 
tians : tlie least advanced resort to religion on great occa- 
sions ; the deeper proficient resorts to it on all. 

" An acquaintance with the nature of human evils and 
of their remedy, would check that spirit of complaint which 
so much abounds, and which often makes so little differ- 
ence between those who profess religion and those who do 
not. 

" If our duties are not great, they become important by 



23^ HANNAH MORE. 

the constant demand that is made for them. They have 
been called the ' small coin of human life,' and on their 
perpetual and unobstructed circulation depends much of 
the comfort and convenience of life. How few of us are 
called to carry the gospel in distant lands ! — but which 
of us is not called every day to adorn its docti'ines, by 
gentleness, kindness, and forbearance ?" 

Alas, is there not a sad want of tlioroughness in our 
religious character in these days ? Is our religion exercised 
as it should be, in fostering our little virtues and subduing 
our smaller faults ? Are not Christians too apt to rest in 
the hope of their conversion, without evincing its reality by 
practical piety ? Are we not apt to think the business of 
religion done by a sluggish compliance with some of its 
most obvious requirements ? We may frown upon immo- 
ralities, but do we cleanse the heart? We subscribe to 
associations for good, but is there not a secret satisfaction 
that we can delegate our names to do that, which we 
should be loth to do ourselves ? The cardinal doctrine of 
some seems to be, that " union is power," and as a natural 
consequence most of the great evils of the world will be 
banished by the existence of Societies, without one's having 
any direct responsibility in the matter; they have great 
faith in resolutions and I'eports, and they love to attend 



FALLING LEAVES. 233 

the anniversary meetings ; it gratifies their benevolence to 
hear what good has been done in Patagonia and Siam. 
As for the great mass of sin, wretchedness, and guilt within 
and around them, the most that could be said of it, there 
it is : and they content themselves with thinking that 
Christianity will cure it, only give it time : it sometimes 
strikes them strangely enough, that within the very heart 
of the christian community there should be so much 
corruption, but it is only a running commentary upon the 
Bible, and the Bible, they know, contains an adequate 
remedy for it ; not many Sabbaths before, perhaps, their 
hearts have burned at the preachei-'s glowing account of 
that redemption, which coraeth through Jesus Christ, but 
who shall illustrate its excellences, bear its gracious messa- 
ges, and dispense its blessed charities, it is not for them 
particularly to inquire ; they go to church and pay the 
minister, the Bible Society will do the rest, or the city 
missionary, — they subscribe to both. To neighbors and ac- 
quaintance, they are friendly and courteous, wishing them 
well ; to a certain extent, they are glad to hear of their 
success, and they pity them in misfortune ; if they are not 
members of the church, they hope they will be, indeed 
they rather wonder that some of them are not, they surely 
s«em fit for it, though it might confound them to describe 
20* 



234 HANNAH MORE. 

the temper and spirit that should belong to the servants 
of God. In daily life they are troubled and anxious about 
many things : petty annoyances and small trials vex the 
spirit and disturb their peace ; indecision and peevishness, 
vanity and trifling, not restrained and subdued by that 
power which can cleanse the heart as well as guide the 
steps, bring discredit upon higher duties and dishonor 
upon the christian name. 

It is often said that the church is false to her trust : 
we are often surprised to find how imperfectly christianized 
even Christians are ; piety seems sometimes to have lost 
its savor, nay, it is even whispered that Christianity is a 
failure. These are something more than the suggestions of 
unbelief or the excuses of the short-coming. Alas, is there 
not cause for doubts like these ! and do they not mainly 
spring from a lack of thoroughness and com]yleteness in 
christian character, a want of that practical and progi-essive 
piety, which unhappily distinguishes but comparatively 
few ? but which, wherever it is found, is just what the 
Bible describes it, a sober, righteous, holy living, light in 
darkness, salt, preserving and purifying. We need to 
carry our Christianity more into our daily tempers and 
hourly occupations ; it is more needed in the counting- 
room, the work-shop, the parlor and the kitchen ; it is 



FALLING LEAVES. 23'6 

needed to make us more honest, just, patient, charitable, 
meek, peaceful, and of good report ; we must allow it to 
restrain and temper our tuhole man ; we must live it in all 
the minor acts as well as higher relations of life, that all 
around shall perceive its excellency and honor its divine 
author ; we must show that it is not variable and capri- 
cious, governed by our circumstances or self-interest, but 
that it is steadfast, governing us, and moulding our charac- 
ter into a growing likeness to Jesus Christ our pattern. 
While it lends a helping hand to those numerous in- 
strumentalities and manifold associations, which are used 
to extend the knowledge of true piety, it must not sufifer 
them to usurp the place, personal responsibility, and individ- 
ual faithfulness in the humbler sphere of daily influence. 
In a word, nothing is more wanted to give strength and 
stability to the churches, power and victory to the word of 
God, discouragement and defeat to essential errors and 
sinful systems, than Practical Piety, steadfast, consistent, 
and progressive among the people of God. 

Its excessive strictness was made a matter of complaint 
among some of her rehgious friends. 

" The gos2)el is strict," was her reply ; " the cutting off 
a right hand, or the plucking out of a right eye, though 
only used as metaphors and illustrations, is surely more 



236 HANNAH MOKE. 

strict than anything I have said. The standard of rehgion 
should be always kept high : the very best of us are al- 
ways sure to pull it down a good many pegs in our prac- 
tice, but how much lower is the practice of those who fix a 
lower standard than the New Testament holds out ?" 

But, cannot you write of Christianity in more general 
terras, like Addison and Johnson, and not dwell so much 
on the peculiar doctrines of the Bible, they said again. 

" Much as I honor and love these," answered she, " their 
writings w^ould have done a far wider and deeper good, 
had they not generalized religion so much. The sound- 
ness of Johnson's principles is incontestable, but he scarcely 
ever enters on any evangelical truth. Addison had a de- 
vout spirit, still he appears not to have entered into those 
deep views of evangelical truth, which abound in Pascal 
and Taylor, in Leighton and Hall ; and my regret is, that 
they did not dwell more on the doctrines of Christianity, 
and upon what distinguishes it from all religious systems 
as a scheme of salvation^ 

Compare the influence of Johnson and Addison, as 
moralists and Christians, celebrated and. world-read as they 
are, with Baxter and Doddridge, how do they sink into 
comparative insignificance before the 2>ungent, searching, 
humbling teachings of believing men, who took the Bible 



FALLING LEAVES. 237 

as God gave it, daring- neither to lessen nor to narrow its 
solemn and awful truths, as they stand recorded on its in- 
spired pages. It is such men only who can meet the 
wants of sinful man ; it is only such preaching and such 
teaching that can measure the depth of human frailty and 
corruption, and which can propose a remedy to satisfy the 
conscious need of the burdened spirit. Men are frail, and 
imperfect, and sorrowful, but they are something more, — 
they are sinners, and are conscious of a weigbt of ill-desert, 
of which no one can reheve them. Christian generalities 
may arrest the ear, and please the reason, but they do not, 
and they cannot strike the conscience, compel a man to 
stop, let go his hold on the world, and cry out with an 
earnestness never felt before, " What shall I do to be 
saved ?" 

It is only the distinguishing doctrines of the Bible, 
urged by those who have felt their power, that can have 
any direct or permanent influence upon the life and con- 
science of others ; any sj'stem short of a recognition of a 
man's apostasy, his pardon and restoration through Jesus 
Christ, with the consequent fruits of a holy life, all the 
tremendous issues of which hang npon immediate action, 
any system short of this, may it not be repeated, is in- 
operative and inefficient towards bringing men to repent 



238 HANNAH MORE. 

ance and faith, to lioliness and heaven. Believers there 
are all over the church of Christ on earth, who, under 
God, bless Doddridge and Baxter for the joy set before 
them, while saints, singing the song of Moses and the 
Lamb, will be crowns of their rejoicing in the Great Day. 

It was this solemn persuasion of the essential features 
of Bible truth which gave such power to the teaching and 
example of Hannah More ; a power which offended some, 
but benefited more. In all her writings, and in all her 
plans for human good, her great and especial design was 
to seek and to save those loho are lost. This was her 
heart's desire, and it was this which quickened her in her 
long and wearisome journey among the neighboring 
parishes, even after the infirmities of age and sickness 
crept over the body, and gave vigor to her pen, while the 
hand that held it was cramped with pain, and benumbed 
by weakness. 

The earnest and heart-felt piety which springs from a 
believing reception of divine truth is often confounded with 
gloom and austerity, and yet there is none which can give 
such cheerfulness to life, and such hope in death. To one 
who asked whether her serious pursuits had not destroyed 
her rehsh for pleasantry, she repHed, " As you cannot see 
those who live with me, you must take my testimony, that 



FALLING LEAVES. 239 

I am neither a bigot nor a misanthrope, — my spirits are 
good, and even gay. I hope it is no infringement on bet- 
ter things to say, that my bite for humor, and a sort of 
sensible nonsense, is not a whit diminished. A hfe of ill- 
health has no ways impaired ray constitutional cheerfulness, 
and I am sometimes afraid that I take more than my share 
of society." 

Practical Piety was followed by Christian Morals, which 
soon passed through eleven editions. 

But while her pen was more busy and instructive than 
ever, the sisters were compelled to curtail their labors on 
the Sabbath. The Mendip schools had survived the Blag- 
don conti'oversy, and, like good children of a healthy stock, 
they looked well and thriving ; neither spite nor misrepre- 
sentation could essentially, or for any length of time, im- 
pair an influence like theirs ; but neither Hannah nor Patty 
were longer equal to the fatigue of superintending so large 
a field ; three parishes only continued to share their bene- 
factions, Shipham, Nailsea, and Cheddar, their last, as well 
as their first love. Here were teachers who had been 
twenty years in their service, faithful and well-approved ; 
men and women, husbands and wives, and heads of femilies, 
who from little children had grown up in the schools, and 
become worthy citizens, and servants of God : many had 



240 HANNAH MORE. 

passed through sickness and tribulation, having obtained a 
good report through faith, and at last died ripe with 
christian hopes : peace, good order, industry, everywhere 
prevailed over the once abandoned district ; friendly neigh- 
borhoods and happy families, thankful hearts and tidy 
hearths, bore witness that the word of God is valuable for 
the life that now is, as well as that which is to come. 

Now there is sorrow in Barley Wood : they who have 
comforted others, need themselves comfort. Mary, the 
first-born of the sisters, is not, for God took her : during 
five days of suffering no murmur or complaint escaped 
her lips ; calmly she talked of " going home," and picked 
out the poor man who should bear her to her narrow cell. 
The sisters gathered around her dying bed : it was Sunday 
morning when she breathed her last. 

" How blessed to die on Easter Sunday," spake Hannah, 
" to descend to the wave when Jesus triumphed over it." 

Twenty times a day did they visit her cold remains : " I 
divide the morning between the contemplation of her 
serene countenance and my favorite, Baxter's Saint's Rest," 
said Hannah, her tears stayed, as with the eye of faith 
she beholds the eldest, " not lost, but gone before." 

This was in April, 1813. 

As the summer came, with its fruits and flowers, a jour- 



FALLING LEAVES. 241 

ney, with its change of scene and air, was necessary to re- 
cruit the exhausted strength of the two younger sisters. 
They went into Surrey and Kent, drove through the envi- 
rons of London, visited Henry Thornton, and passed a day 
with Wilberforce, whom they had not seen for some years, 
the home influences of whose quiet, but elegant house, 
greatly gratified Miss Hannah More. 

" What extensive good has Mr. Wilberforce done among 
young persons of fashion, by the intellectual and religious 
intercourse of his family !" she declares. It was not only 
in his public acts and outward life that Wilberforce was a 
Christian ; in the bosom of his family, in his intercourse 
with his children, in the frank and chastened courtesy of 
his manners in daily life, everything revealed an elevated 
tone of piety. 

" A few such hours," said she, " where inquiring minds 
know that they shall meet with good company, in the best 
sense of the word, would, I am sure, fortify the minds, and 
cheer the spirits, as well as confirm the principles of many. 
I know that many have been deterred from the society of 
religious persons by some want of discretion and delicacy, 
which they have been glad to magnify, in order to get 
quite out of the connection : I am, however, aware, that 
all one's prudence is not sufticient to clear away the charge 
21 



242 HANNAH MORE. 

of enthusiasm which the world is ever watching for an oc- 
casion to bring forward against those who exhibit a more 
than ordinary degree of strictness, — but this they must be 
contented to bear for their Great Master^ who bore so 
much for them." 

But a great improvement was already visible in the 
higher class of English society : " Twenty years ago," said 
Jane Porter, " while a child, I have cried to hear people at 
the table scoff so at religion, with nobody daring to defend 
it : now such a thing would not be tolerated." 

An increasing seriousness and respect for religious things 
were everywhere manifest ; the Sabbath was more strictly 
observed : scoffing and levity upon sacred truths, were 
not only considered vulgar, but undignified and frowned 
upon. A higher and better tone of moral feeling began to 
pervade the public prints, and the tendency among all 
classes seemed to be upward : no small part of this change 
may be traced to the influence of Hannah More, whose 
literary fame preceded and opened the way for her 
religious writings. Known and admired as she had been 
in the most elegant and learned circles of the metropolis, 
it happily became the fashion to read her productions, and 
thus her works had an entrance and an uhconscious influ- 
ence in circles otherwisf> adverse to religious reading of so 



FALLING LEAVES. 243 

decided a character, and indeed, to religious reading of any- 
kind. Nor did fashion here show her usual fickleness : 
Miss More continued to be read and re-read, jDublished and 
circulated, with an ever-increasing interest and improve- 
ment ; nor can we ever imagine the time to be, when the 
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain shall not be reckoned among 
the most beautiful, touching, and truthful illustrations of 
the power of divine grace. 

But while our pen records her worth, she has left the 
mansion of Wilberforce, and taken her way to Strawberry 
Hill, now the residence of Lady Waldegrave, where a 
thousand recollections of the past, partly pleasing, but 
more painful, filled her heart. Here too was Hampton, 
where for thirty years she had passed a portion of every 
winter with Mrs. Garrick. It had now been several years 
since they had met. Of all the old circle who first wel- 
comed her to London, Mrs. Garrick alone was living, and 
she was past ninety. Miss More hastened to see her ; she 
was away, but the library, the lawn, the temple of Shak- 
speare — she would see all for the last time ! Contrast her 
feelings now with the glow of youthful enthusiasm which 
lighted her soul, and quickened her step, as she ran over 
the lawn, and stood in the temple forty years before. 
Youth and health were then hers; life, sportive, gay, 



244 HANNAH MORE. 

literary, intellectual, was full of present gladness and future 
jDromise. What blossoms of hope hung in her path ! but 
how little did she foresee or dream what the fruit should 
be : forty years of summer and winter, of spring-time and 
harvest ; how many circles broken, how many graves are 
grass-grown. " What wit, what talents, what vivacity, 
•what friendship have I enjoyed in this place," she said 
tearfully. " Where are they now ? I have been mercifully 
spared to see the vanity and emptiness of everything that 
is not connected with eternity ; and seeing this, how heavy 
will my condemnation be, if I do not lay it to heart." 

Her frame is feeble, her step is tottei'ing, her face 
wrinkled with age ; the air is chilly. So the outward 
perisheth, but within, what a fountain of life ! how price- 
less, how exhaustless ! What spiritual excellency, what 
strength, what vigor, what serenity, what power beneath 
that sinking and sickly frame ! It is the divine life, drawn 
from Christ, the living head. 

The travellers returned to Barley Wood, and in the 
autumn, Mv. Wilberfoi-ce, with his wife and daughters, 
spent a few delightful days at this " favored seat of in- 
tellectual and religious sunshine," as it was afterwards 
called by one of the sons of this favored guest. A new 
source of interest and activity opened upon the sisters by 



FALLING LEAVES. 245 

the formation of a Branch Bible Society, in the parish of 
Wrington. The great difficulty iu obtaining anything like 
an adequate supply of Bibles for either home or foreign 
circulation, led to the foundation of the Foreign Bible 
Society as early as 1803, in which all religious parties 
united, alike without regard to party or sect. No society 
ever had a broader or more blessed mission ; its operations 
were confined to no creed or country : its field was the 
world. When a few used to meet in Mr. Hardcastle's 
counting-room, to consult together and prepare measures 
for its formation, Mr. Wilberforce came also. It was 
planted a very little seed ; it grew up and " became a 
goodly tree, which yielded her fruit every month, and the 
leaves of the tree w^re for the healing of the nations." 

The first anniversary of the Wrington Branch, was held 
on the grounds of Barley Wood ; the spiritual climate 
being cold, none of the Mendip gentry were sufficiently 
warmed with the subject to open their mansions. The 
meeting was held in the wagon-yard — one hundred sat 
down to dinner, and as it was a fine day, the overflowings 
from the house dined under the trees. 

"Some may think it would have been better to add 
£20 to our subscription," said Miss More to Wilberforce, 
" and save ourselves so much trouble ; but we take this 
21* 



246 HANNAH MORE. 

trouble from a conviction of the contrary. The many 
young persons of fortune present, by assisting in this little 
festivity, will learn to connect the idea of innocent cheerful- 
ness with that of religious societies, and ' may go and 
do likewise.' For no other cause on earth w^ould we en- 
counter so much fatigue." They all enjoyed themselves 
exceedingly, and the lawn had all the gaiety of a pubHc 
garden. 

Let us hear how Barley Wood and its gifted mistress 
strikes a stranger from the West. A lady from Massa- 
chusetts pays her a visit. " How did she look ?" — and 
" what did Hannah More say ?" — are fair questions enough. 
"Miss More was about seventy-live years old, at the 
time I saw her, with an eye as brilliant as a girl of 
eighteen — a dark hazel color, with a full, matronly form 
of medium height. Her dress was of black cambric, with 
a plain, double muslin handkerchief over it, and a full- 
ruffled muslin cap. But her conversation ! — that was the 
charm ! intei-spersed frequently with quotations from Scrip- 
ture. When we commended her works, and told her we 
thought great good had been done by them in America, 
her reply was, ' Oh, if any good has been done by them, 
if the few tinsel talents I possess may have been made 
useful! The Lord is sometimes pleased to employ the 



FALLING LEAVES. 247 

feeblest instruments in his service — do not praise me^ but 
give God the glory, it is all of Him ! You are very en- 
couraging, and I need encouragement.' 

" Miss More said, ' We might think it an odd speech she 
was about to make, but that we (the clergyman and his 
wife who accompanied me) could scarcely have found a 
day in many years, when they were situated as they were 
to-day. The Bristol Fair is now held, but we do not 
approve of fairs, and never allow our servants to go, — 
Bonaparte's carriage, however, has been a matter of great 
curiosity in this family, and one of my sisters has gone 
with four of our servants (for we dare not trust them 
alone) to gratify their innocent, though ridiculous curiosity^ 
and you must receive it as a particular mark of friendship 
(at the same time taking Mrs. T.'s hand) if we ask you 
to take a bit of boiled beef with us — but we must wait on 
oureelves, and if, under such circumstances, you will par- 
take with us, we shall be happy to have you.' 

" On our fearing that to dine with them would detain 
us too long, she kindly said we must take some refresh- 
ment. She gave us cold mutton, sliced with bread and 
butter, and beer, all excellent. In the time it was prepar- 
ing, we went over her cottage, which is neatly elegant, 
having a beautiful verandah in front, ornamented with a 



248 HANNAH MORE. 

variety of flowers, and rose-trees, in bloom, rising even to 
the thatched roof, which covers this interesting dwelling. 
She showed ns into a 'chamber for a friend,' commanding 
a prospect of the whole of Wrington valley, in which are 
situated twelve parish churches, and was the birth-place of 
John Locke, to whose memory she has a monument in her 
garden. Further west may be seen two islands in the 
sea, about nine miles from the shore, and she observed 
that 'their nearest market-town in the same direction is 
Boston ; so,' said she, ' when you reach home, look east- 
ward, and think of me." 

" Miss More told us the place was much endeared to 
them, from the circumstance of their having planted eveiy 
tree, and shrub, and even laid the first stone for building 
their cottage, about thirteen years before, with their own 
hands. 

" She took us to her bed-room, which is also a library, 
and pointed out the excellencies of almost every author, as 
we passed them, as familiarly as a parent could the differ- 
ent traits of her children. Baxter and Saurin were her 
favorite authors. She admired the sublime words of Bax- 
ter on his death-bed, when asked by a friend how he was, 
he replied, opening his eyes, ' Almost well !' meaning he 
should soon be with Christ in Heaven. 



FALLING LEAVES. 249 

" Miss More was not well enough to walk with us over 
her grounds, but on our return to the house, we enjoyed 
her delightful discourse a little longer in the drawing-room. 

" She said much of the evils of hoarding up wealth, and 
mentioned the death of a friend the previous week, by the 
name of Renolds, who gave away his immense property, 
restricting himself to bare necessaries. 

" ' Indeed,' said she, ' an avaricious professor of religion, 
is an anomaly that I cannot understand.' 

" Mr. T. said it was a subject on which he should preach 
from his own pulpit, when he returned home. 

" ' Do,' said Miss More, ' and take for your text. But 
thou, O man of God, flee these things, Timothy iv. 11th, 
and think of me.' 

" Miss More mentioned ' good news from India' — that a 
Bishop had written that he was then on the sea, going to 
another part of his diocese, which was five thousand miles 
in extent, and that a^ Bramin of high caste was lately con- 
verted, entirely by his own study of the Scriptures (' and 
yet it is said,' she remarked, ' this alone is of no use'), and 
that he, with more than two hundred of his caste, were 
soon to be baptized, when he intended coming to Europe, 
to a university. 

" Her sister remarked ' that the evening before. Lord 



250 HANNAH MORE. 

Tinmouth and the Bishop of Gloucester had visited them, 
and that they had sat conversing until three o'clock in the 
morning, and all the time the words went as rapidly from 
one to the other, as the bird of a battle-door.' " 

Is not this a pleasant visit? Can we not almost see 
the Lady of the Manor in her black cambric dress, and full 
ruffled cap ? But, oh, to hear her ! 

Meanwhile Miss More was ready to issue another work, 
an essay to the Life and Writings of St. Paul — the first 
edition of which sold the fii-st day, and she has not a 
single copy to present to her sisters. It is a discriminating 
and beautiful portrait of this eminent apostle, whose wri- 
tings she had studied with profound interest. Three years 
had scarcely passed since the first breach in the family 
circle, when Elizabeth, or Betty, as she was famiharly 
called, followed her sister to the heavenly land. For many 
years, the Bible had formed her chief reading, and although 
a natural reserve prevented her from speaking with free- 
dom of her interior life, yet 

" When faith and love, which parted from her never, 
Had ripen'd her just soul to dwell with God, 
Meekly did she resign tliis earthly load, 
Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever." 



FALLING LEAVES. 251 

While her works, her alms, and all her good endeavors 
were a rich legacy left in the memory of her friends, to 
recall her worth. Her loss was serious to the family at 
Barley Wood, for although her influence was chiefly felt 
in the interior arrangement of the household, no one who 
understands how many wheels there are within a wheel, 
which need to be kept in harmonious action for a well- 
regulated household, could undervalue the importance of 
her position. Of diligent hand and pleasant memory, a 
large circle mourned her loss. 

The year 1816 and thereabouts, witnessed scarcity, de- 
pression of business, and murmuring among the Enghsh 
people. War had burdened the treasury, and crippled the 
resources of the nation, nor could the proclamation of 
peace immediately restore that prosperity and well-ordered 
industry, which are among her chief blessings. Discontent 
began everywhere to prevail; hungry men cried out for 
reform ; secret assemblies were holden ; unpopular minis- 
ters were insulted ; pikes were manufactured, and worse 
than all, the agitation and violence of the times were 
increased, by the circulation of a fresh batch of infidel 
writings, adding fuel to the flame. The London committees 
are again in motion : measures must be taken to circulate 
throughout the veins and arteries of society pure blood, or 



HANNAH MORE. 



the whole will be corrupted by the bad. Among the pub- 
lications of the day, Miss More's tracts and songs again 
play a distinguished part. Will Chip re-appeared upon 
the stage; "Village Disputants," the title having been- 
slightly altered, rapidly ran through ten editions. Her quiet 
insight of just what was necessary, her true woman's tact, 
which serves the sex so well, often enabling them to reach 
the justest conclusions, without a troublesome argument, 
caused a fresh demand upon her pen at this time. 

"I did not think of turning ballad-monger in my old 
age," she says, " but the strong and urgent representations 
which I have had from the highest quarters of the alarming 
temper of the times, and the spirit of revolution which 
shows itself more or less in all the manufacturing towns, 
led me to undertake as a duty, a task I would gladly have 
avoided." 

She set herself to work, and in a few weeks, wrote a 
dozen penny and half-penny articles, thousands and tens of 
thousands of which were circulated fur and wide. 
■ " I fear the antidotes are not strong enough to expel the 
deeply-rooted poison," she says, '' but each must do what 
he can." 

" These are awful times, and this tempestuous weather, 
by putting a stop to the sowing of corn, I fear is preparing 



FALLING LEAVES. 253 

for US another season of scarcity. But the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth ; what consolation to be assured of 
this !" 

Are not here the grand elements of patient, earnest 
doing in the Master's work ? Every Christian who under- 
stands his relation to God and his fellow-men (and who 
dares profess ignorance in this day ?) understands also that 
he has a life-work before him, to do which, great as the 
work may seem, two simple elements alone are necessary, 
— do lohat you can in the steady belief that God is at the 
helm. He demands your service, and you need his direc- 
tion. 

Miss More wrote and published, and re-published many 
of her former tracts and stories, suited to the present ex- 
igencies, w^hile her hand was weak, and her heart was 
aching to behold the slow and sure decay of her sister 
Sally, whose sprightliness and wit sparkled even amid the 
gathering ills of a closing life. For many months she 
knew there was no prospect of recovery, neither could any 
alleviation of the disease (dropsy) be hoped foi", and she 
looked earnestly upward for those consolations which God 
alone can confer upon the soul in its hour of extremest 
need. While still below her sufferings were sometimes in- 
tense, which drew forth the frequent exclamation, " Poor 
22 



254 HANNAH MORE. 

Sally, you are in dreadful pain." " I am indeed, but it is 
well," was her calm reply. Indeed, so much did she 
enjoy the society of her friends, so playful still was her 
conversation, so quiet and patient her appearance, that few 
could believe her situation dangerous. 

Though yet able to stay in the family sitting-room, and 
employ herself a little with her work-basket, she gave up 
her old seat at the bow-window, where she loved to sit 
and watch the spring-flowers, lest the beauties of the 
earthly scene might draw her away from the frequent con- 
templation of the heavenly. At last, no longer able to 
bear a sitting posture, she was assisted up stairs — for the 
last time, she well knew : before leaving she looked back, 
and cast a parting glance about the room : it was a silent 
and solemn farewell : no word was spoken. Her suffer- 
ings greatly increased, so that with difficulty she could 
restrain the most piercing groans : unable to hear any con- 
nected reading, Hannah and Patty repeated detached 
verses from the Bible, in which she often joined. Once, 
when she had lain long insensible, a favorite text was re- 
cited, when she suddenly exclaimed, " Can anything be 
finer than that ! it makes one's face shine !" 

When life seemed nearly gone, her physician took her 
by the hand, and bade her good-morning : lifting her 



I 



iALLING LEAVES. 255 

hands in holy transport, she said, " Oh ! for the glorious 
morning of the resurrection ! but there are some gray 
clouds between." 

Her ejaculations all betokened a trusting and believing 
heart. "Oh! the blood of Christ! He died for me! 
God was man ! Talk of the cross, the precious cross, the 
King of Love !" 

" Blessed Jesus" were the last words which dwelt upon 
her lips. "Four months," writes Hannah to Mrs. Keu- 
nicott, "we have watched over her increasing disease. 
Poor Patty and I watched over this bed of suffering, but 
our distress was mingled with much consolation. I cannot 
do justice to her humility, her patience, her submission. 
It was sometimes more than resignation, it was a spiritual 
triumph over the suffering of her tormented body. She 
often said, ' I have never prayed for recovery, but pardon. 
I do not fear death, but sin.' 

" My three sisters have quitted the world in the same 
order of succession as they entered it. My turn, in course, 
would be next. Pray for me that I may do and suffer the 
whole will of God." 

A friend who visited Barley Wood after the last sad 
bereavement, writes thus of the remaining two sisters : 
" Feeling as they do, very deeply, the sad breach made in 



256 HANNAH MORE. 

their circle, they are wisely, cheerfully, and piously sub- 
missive to this appointment of Providence : and neither 
their talents nor their vivacity are in the least subdued. I 
am disposed to believe that they will be blessed to the last 
with the retention of those faculties which they have em- 
ployed so well. With Patty I had a long and interesting 
conversation. This interesting woman is suflering with ex- 
emplary patience the greatest pain : not a murmur escapes 
her, though at night especially groans and cries are inevi- 
tably extorted, and the moment after the paroxysm, she is 
ready to resume with full interest and animation, whatever 
may have been the subject of conversation. Hannah is 
still herself She took the Rev. Charles Forster and me to 
drive to Brockley Combe : in the course of which her 
anecdotes, her wit, her powers of criticism, and her ad- 
mirable talent at recitation, had ample scope." 

How serene and beautiful is this picture ! AVe forget 
that old age and sickness are there, — old age and sickness 
BO repulsive to the eye of blooming and buoyant youth, 
so uninteresting and unatti-active to the busy and bustling 
of middle life. Hannah is seventy-three, and Patty is an 
invalid, so, when Sally died, who cared for the flowers, 
" The garden will be neglected," said some, " there is no 
one left to do like Sallv !" Ah ! no : Hannah went out to 



p 



FALLING LEAVES. 26V 

meet the spring tlowers ; she gathered the roses and bound 
up the honeysuckles, and the garden bloomed as sweetly 
as it used to : so the soul sometimes seems to renew its 
youth. 

22* 



CHAPTER XV. 

Miss More sits at her desk correcting the fifteenth 
edition of Celebs, and the eleventh of Practical Piety. She 
speaks thus, " In spite of the dull task of reforming points 
and particles, I found the revisal of the last especially a 
salutary and mortifying employment. IIow easy it is to 
be good upon paper ! I felt myself humbled, even to a 
sense of hypocrisy, to observe (for I had forgotten the 
book) how very far short I had fallen of the habits, and 
principles, and interior sanctity, which I had found it so 
easy to recommend to others. I hardly read a page which 
did not carry some reproach to my own heart. I frequently 
think of a line which Prior puts into the mouth of Sol- 
omon, 

' They brought my Proverbs to confute my life.' " 
" Celebs in search of a Wife" had now been before the 






GOLDEN HARVEST. 259 

public about ten years, and its rapid sale both in England 
and the United States testified its great popularity. The 
author's profits for the first year amounted to ten thousand 
dollars : a reward, as it were, for the exercise of her 
talents, under severe and protracted bodily sufieriug. 
" Never was more pain bound up in tv\ o volumes," she 
said. The work contains a beautiful portrait of woman as 
she should be, and we only wish there were more Lucillas 
for the inquiring Celebses of our own day : were there 
more like Celebs, there possibly might be more Lucillas, if, 
as in trade, the demand creates a supply : certain it is, 
that men in search of wives often strangely overlook those 
traits of character and principles of action most necessary 
to the happiness of married life, while beauty, wealth, or 
accomplishment possess a market value greatly beyond 
their real worth. It is curious to see how many incon- 
siderate marriages take place every year within one's own 
observation : how puzzled many a man and woman would 
be in answering the single inquiry, " What do you want in 
a wife ?" " What kind of a husband will you have ?" The 
hastiness and inconsideration with which so many enter into 
this most important and serious relation is one great cause 
of the indifference and disappointment which, oftener than 



260 HANNAH MORE. 

we are generally aware, clouds and sours tlie married life 
of multitudes. 

We would advise young men to read Celebs : they 
would learn from it some capital hints, excellent advice, 
and reliable principles, to guide them in that perplexing 
and anxious search, which may lead to the greatest earthly 
happiness, or the bitterest earthly sorrow. 

Dr. Henderson, the charming tourist of Iceland, found 
Celebs enlivening the long evenings of many a circle in 
that ice-bound I'egion ; Swedish youths learned from it 
lessons of wisdom ; it was translated into French and Ger- 
man : and may it not be hoped that young men and 
maidens, and the newly married, became wiser and better 
for having read it. 

Nor was Russia impenetrable to her influence. The 
" Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," with " Charles the Foot- 
man," and several of their excellent companions, made an 
extensive circuit throughout that empire ; and she received 
the assurance from a pious Russian Princess, that they 
were opening the way for other works of a kindred char- 
acter. 

India also reaped the benefit of her labors. Portions 
of " Moses in the Bulrushes" were presented to Miss More, 
written in Cingalese on the Palmyra leaf, and many of her 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 261 

writings were translated both in Tamul and Cingalese. 
Sir Alexander Johnstone, Chief Justice of Ceylon, on his 
return to England, visited Barley Wood, to assure her of 
the interest which they excited among the natives, and to 
bespeak a poem from her gifted pen, to be sung on the an- 
niversary of the abolition of domestic slavery on that 
island. Servitude existed among the Dutch settlers of 
Ceylon, when it fell into the hands of the English, who at 
the time, guaranteed to all the inhabitants their rights of 
private property ; nor were they willing to relincjuish this 
among the rest, until Sir Alexander having secured to 
them some important privileges from the English govern- 
ment, in gratitude to him, they resolved, that all children 
born of their slaves after the 12th of August, 1816, should 
become free. Miss More wrote a little dramatic poem, 
called the " Feast of Freedom,'" which was translated into 
the native language, by two young priests, then receiving 
an English education under the care of Dr. Adam Clarke. 
The " Feast of Freedom" became a great favorite in Ceylon, 
tlie following extract of which gives utterance, through the 
mouth of Sabat, holding in his hand the AYord of God, to 
the sound and healthy sentiments which fill the whole piece : 

" This is the boon which England send?, 
It breaks tlie chain of sin : 



262 HANNAH MORE. 

Oh, blest exchange for fragrant groves ! 
Oh, barter most divine ! 

It yields a trade of noblest gain, 

While other trades may miss ; 
A few short years of care and pain, 

For endless, perfect bliss. 

This shows us freedom how to use, 

To love our daily labor ; 
Forbids our time in sloth to lose, 

Or riot with our neighbor. • 

Then let our masters gladly find 

A free man works the faster : 
Who serves his God with heart and mind, 

Will better serve his master." 

" What a pleasure must it afford you, my dear Madam," 
wrote the chief justice to the author, " to have the power 
of producing such moral im]>rovement by your writings, 
not only througliout Europe, but throughout Asia also ! 
For I am convinced that your writings have had a greater 
effect, and have been more generally read, than any other 
works which have been written for the last hundred 



years 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 263 

The next pilgrims to Barley Wood, Miss More says, " are 
two very interesting and sensible Persians, who have been 
studying the literature, arts, and sciences of this country, 
and are returning home with great acquisitions of knowl- 
edge. I never saw any Asiatics before who had energy, 
spirit, and curiosity : these are all alive. In my garden is 
an urn to the memory of Locke, who was born in our vil- 
lage ; when they saw it, they exclaimed in rapture, 
* What ! Locke the metaphysician !' They go to our dif- 
ferent places of worship, attend Bible, and other public 
meetings, and seem to have fewer prejudices against Chris- 
tianity than you would suppose. They particularly admire 
Job and Isaiah, and those parts of the Old Testament 
which have the most orientalism. Their figures and cos- 
tume are striking, their manners very genteel. I was 
amused to see the Mohammedans drink a little wine. The 
most literary of the two wished to have something of mine 
as a memento. I gave him Practical Piety, which he said 
he would translate when he got home," 

The formation and growth of the religious institutions 
which have so distinctly marked the beginning of the 
present century was a source of unspeakable gratitude 
to Hannah More ; — And " I sometimes regret, foolishly 
enough," she said, " that some of my earliest and dearest 



264 HANNAH MORE. 

friends did not live to promote and rejoice in the wonderful 
prosperity of such as each particularly delighted in. Dean 
Tucker, Dr. Kennicott, and Bishop Home would have been 
among- the most zealous supporters of the conversion of the 
Jews, as Dr. Johnson would of the Slave abolition and 
the Bible and Missionary societies. Bishop Porteus would 
have rejoiced in the prosperity of all. To descend to so 
poor a thing as myself and my writings, the gratification I 
feel in that measure of success which it has pleased God to 
grant unworthy me, when so many abler and better per- 
sons have been neglected, is much diminished by the loss 
of the above-named, and many others, who would have 
taken a warmer interest in what concerned me than I de- 
served, and that from partial kindness. But all this is 
necessary, salutary, and right." 

In the spring of 1818, both sisters were so much shat- 
tered by sickness, that friends suspended their accustomed 
visits to Barley Wood, and left the invalids to that undis- 
turbed repose, which they greatly needed. Its benefits 
upon the eldest were soon apparent ; both mind and body 
were improved, and she, under that abiding sense of 
" doing with her might," immediately began and prepared 
a small work, containing twelve short papers or essays 
called, "Moral Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Man- 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 265 

ners, Foreign and Domestic," to which were added her 
" Reflections on Prayer," so deservedly known and admired 
in this country. 

The first edition sold on the first day, and realized fifteen 
thousand dollars. 

In spite of the great popularity and excellent tendency 
of her writings. Miss More seems ever to have made a low 
estimate of her merits, declaring on one occasion " that the 
only remarkable thing which belonged to her as an author 
was, that she had written eleven books after the age of 
sixty." 

The attachment of the two surviving sisters was most 
tender and true ; they had lived much together ; their 
Sunday labors had been equally shared ; they loved the 
same things, and in company had visited often and again 
the same places ; the " sweet sense of kindred" had been 
strengthened by the hallowed associations of a long and 
endeared partnership in every good word and work, and 
now they two were all that were left to love of the happy 
band that once sported over the green at the Dominie's 
door, in old Stapleton. How honored a household ! Blest 
were they among women. 

As months and years passed by, each were admonished, 
that frail was her hold on life ; and each sought to live in 

23 



266 HANNAH MORE. 

a state of constant preparation for the last summons. Miss 
Patty wrote in her account-book, " This is the last I shall 
ever want ;" and every scrap of paper in her desk, bore record 
of a wiUing and waiting spirit : yet " she is eyes, and hands, 
and feet," to Hannah, who might well exclaim, " How can 
I give thee up !" 

The Wilberforces made a short sojourn to Barley Wood 
in the early part of September, 1819, sure of a warm 
and friendly welcome from Miss Hannah, even on a sick 
bed, and from Miss Patty, animated and full of spirits as 
could be, it being a difficult thing to imagine her long 
either crushed or cowed by bodily infirmity. On the last 
day of their visit, Patty accompanied them to dear old 
Cheddar, Brockly Combe, and among the green winding 
ways of the region, and then remained up long after 
her usual time, talking over Hannah's first introduction to 
London, with all her wonted animation. It was late when 
she came to her sister's bedside, to say good-night, " Our 
Wilberforce and I have had such a nice hour's chat," said 
she, cheerfully. A few hours later and she awoke in the 
pangs of death. " Oh, I love my sufferings," she ex- 
claimed ; " they come from God, and I love everything 
which comes from him." 

Whenever the mind wandered, the ruling passion, strong 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 267 

in death, issued its orders like these, " Be sure let that old 
woman have her shoes," " Do not forget the old man's 
clothes," — intent still upon those objects which had formed 
]»er chief interest and daily business of many years. 

"I have lost," said the stricken survivor, "my chief 
earthly comfort, companion, counsellor, and fellow-laborer. 
I need not tell you that my grief is exquisite. God doubt- 
less saw that I leaned too much on this weak prop, and 
therefore in mercy withdrew it, that I might depend more 
exclusively on himself. When I consider how infinitely 
greater her gain is than my loss, I am ashamed of my 
weakness. I can truly say, however, that it has not been 
mixed with one murmuring thought — I kiss the rod and 
adore the hand, that employs it. I do not so much brood 
over my loss as over the many mercies which accompany 
it. I bless God that she v/as spared to me so long; that 
her last trial, though sharp, was short ; that she is spared 
feeling /or 7ne, what I now feel for her, and though I must 
finish my journey alone, yet it is a very short portion of 
my pilgrimage which remains to be accomplished." 

" In our numerous charity schools, she had exerted her- 
self for thirty-tv/o years with the most unwearied perse- 
verance," wrote Miss More, " and I may be allowed to add 
(now she is gone) with great success in training up num- 



268 HANNAH MORE. 

bers of useful members of the community and many souls 
for heaven. Never was any private individual more lamen- 
ted. Our poor gardener said 'she had made as many 
garments for the poor as Dorcas, and had as many tears 
shed over her death-bed.' Several funeral sermons were 
preached for her in the neighborhood, and our neighbors 
have put on mourning." 

Almost every day used to come messages or applica- 
tions to Barley Wood, from the poor, or sick or needy of 
the surrounding parishes, in quest of relief and sympathy, 
found always within its friendly gates. For several weeks 
after Miss Patty's death, no one of them knocked at the 
door, or came near the house. At last, the schoolmaster 
of Shipham with his donkey and panniers came to receive 
his stated supply of books for the schools. " It is very 
long since we have seen any of you," said Miss Hannah. 
"Why, madam, they be so cut up, they have not the heart 
to come," answered the old man mournfully. 

Letters of sympathy, affection, and condolence came in 
upon the mourner from all quarters, and friends flocked 
around, to relieve by their kind offices that void which 
none again could fill : nor does she turn aside from these 
lesser alleviations, which may come upon the parched soul 
like the soft and refreshing fall of the summer dew. 



\ 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 269 



" Many people under a similar affliction are apt to say, 
that it is of too deep a nature to admit of consolation 
from the sympathy of friends. I am not of their opinion," 
said this honored disciple. " I feel the sympathy of kind 
and christian friends very soothing to my mind, and T 
bless God for aflfording me in his mercy and goodness, 
such a source of comfort." 

The withered branch will not long survive, — so thought 
and feared the friends who waited and watched around 
her. During the spring and summer of 1820, she seemed 
gradually wasting beneath the repeated and violent seizures 
of her old complaint — speaking of her burning fever, 
"Nothing but the last icy hand will cool me," said she. 
" Poor Patty, I shall soon join her. I hope I shall feel the 
same patience and submission as dear Patty did. I have 
great comfort and quietness in my mind." 

"I have never known," she said to a clerical friend, 
" much of those triumphs, which I hear of, but I have never 
been destitute of consolation, trust, and reliance — not that 
unauthorized calmness, which some deem to be always a 
symptom of peace to the soul." 

" You have been a blessing to the world," spake one 
near her. 

" No, mine has been but a poor little way — I have done 
23* 



270 HANNAH MORE. 



f 



nothing, I covM do nothing. The righteousness, mercies, 
and merits of Christ are all in all." 

" How long, oh Lord, how long," she exclaimed, in the 
extremity of her suffering. 

"If you need all this, madam," said one of her attend- 
ants, " we may be well filled with dismay." 

" The blood of Christ is sufficient : there is no acceptance 
for the best without it, and with it, the worst need not fear 
obtaining pardon and salvation upon repentance, but it 
must be profound heart-repentancej'^ 

Months of suiiering passed over her, testing the sincerity 
and the unspeakable value of her" ■ christian faith ; her 
resignation in sorrow, her patience in sickness, her forgive- 
ness of injuries, afforded a most eloquent commentary 
upon the blessed doctrines which it was ever the aim of 
her writings to enforce. But God was graciously pleased 
to raise up this aged servant, and again restore to her a 
comfortable measure of health. 

In the worst of her illness, Cadell wrote to entreat her 
to prepare a preface for a new edition of " Moral Sketches," 
with a short tribute to our lamented king. "My friend 
•wrote him word it was utterly impossible," she related 
afterwards, " that I might as well attempt to fly as to write. 
A week after, supposing me to be better, he again renewed 



\ 



GOLD EM HAKVKST. 27l 



his entreaty. I was not better, but worse. I fancied, how- 
ever, that what was difficult might not be impossible. So 
having got everybody out of the way, I furnished myself 
vv'ith pen, ink, and paper, which I concealed in my bed, 
and next morning in a high fever, with my pulse above a 
hundred, without having formed one thought, bolstered 
up, I began to scribble. I got on about seven pages, my 
hand being almost as incompetent as my head. I hid my 
scrawl, and said not a word, while my doctor and my 
friend wondered at my increased debility. After a strong 
opiate, I next morning returned to my task of seven pages 
more, and delivered my almost illegible papers to my 
friend to transcribe and send away. I got well scolded, 
but I loved the king, and was carried through by a sort 
of affectionate impulse ; so it stands as a preface to the 
seventh edition. You will be as much surprised as myself 
that this slight word should have made its way so rapidly 
in these distracted times, which, the bookseller tells me, 
has been the most unfavorable to hterature that they have 
ever known. The preface is such a meagre performance 
as you would expect from the writer, and the strange 
circumstances of the writing." 

Neither sickness nor sorrow seemed to subdue the won- 



272 HANNAH MORE. 

derful elasticity of her mind, ever alert to the call of duty, 
pressing into the service a week and suffering frame. 

Having been called upon to make some arrangements 
which anticipated the future, she added, " Not that I have 
the remotest idea of living through the winter, but we 
must j?:>/ari for time, and prepare for eternity." 

" I often think," she said one day, " that we are not 
thankful enough for negative mercies. I have often felt 
grateful that I have never been confined in a mad-house, a 
prison, or a court." 

Thus her lips dropped manna. While slowly regaining 
strength, unable to endure either much company or great 
fatigue, she relieved the monotony of her confinement by 
composing " Bible Rhymes," pleasant little verses for the 
young, for whose welfare she was always tenderly con- 
cerned. 

" People are too apt at an advanced age," she remarked, 
*' to imagine, because they were able to do but little, they 
were exempted from doing anything ; but our work is 
never finished while we are on earth, and when we have 
but one talent left, we must strive to the last to make the 
most of it." 

Narrow as her sphere of active usefulness had neces- 
sarily become, she is not content to hve upon her past 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 2*73 

greatness, but with diligent hand still busies herself in 
humbler works, which interest, but not o'ertask. 

" I can find sufficient employment, which, if not splen- 
did, is not quite useless," she writes to an old friend. " At 
Bristol, Clifton, and Bath, they have an annual bazaar for 
the different charitable societies, which, by means of con- 
tributions of ladies' different work, produces a good deal 
of money. You will say, that in my old age, I am 
brought so low as to write half-penny papers. Every year 
I write some such trifle. The ladies who conduct the 
bazaars in the different places, get these paltry papers 
printed sometimes on colored papers, and by selHng them 
for a shilling, £20 have been collected in a year. I spend 
all my leisure in knitting garters and muffatees, a little 
decorated ; these, by the lady-customers giving five times 
more than they are worth, bring in the year no contempt- 
ible sum." 

'No one, perhaps, ever set more value on her time than 
did Hannah More, or how else could she have accom- 
pMshed so much, with the various hindrances which sick- 
ness and society threw in her way ? 

" What a large portion of time may be impro\adently 
squandered !" she remarks ; " what days and nights may 
be suffered to waste themselves, if not criminally, yet in- 



274 HANNAH MOKE. 

considerately^ — if not loaded with evil, yet destitute of 
good, — how much consumed in worthless employments, 
frivolous amusements, listless indolence, idle reading, and 
vain imaginations, — and one can never make a right use 
of time, who turns it over to chance, or who lives without 
any definite scheme for its employment, or any fixed object 
for its end." 

Let the young Christian ponder this : 

" Your time may be your greatest talent ; 
What wilt thou say in heaven, 
When the Master asks, what hast thou done 
With the talent I have given ?" 

Upon this subject she again speaks. Let us take heed. 

" Through the unwearied kindness of more Christian 
friends than any other unworthy creature was ever blessed, 
I see through ' my loop-hole of retreat,' or rather hear of 
whatever interesting is going on. My conclusion is, that 
wickedness is wickeder than it used to be, and that aood- 
ness is better. Religion certainly has increased much 
among the higher classes in England, and perhaps still 
more in Ireland. Yet I will still venture to say, even to 
the religious world, ' I have a few things against thee.' 

" With no small number of happy exceptions, I cannot 



GOLDEN HAKVEaX, 275 

help observing the common fault of good people, — the 
misapprojmation of time. I will only instance two par- 
ticulars of the evil, of which they do not seem to me to be 
sufficiently aware, — 7/iui>ic and light reading. Twenty 
years ago, when I wrote * Strictures on Female Education,' 
Bishop Cleaves, of St. Asaph, was at Bath. He was much 
attached to me, though we differed on many points. Talk- 
ing on this subject, he was so much of my opinion, that 
he wrote the following statement, which I inserted in a note 
in the first volume : — ' Suppose your pupil to begin music 
at six years of age, and to continue the average of four 
hours a day at her instrument (a very low calculation) 
Sundays excepted, till she is eighteen, the statement stands 
thus — three hundred days multiplied by four, the number 
of hours amounts to twelve hundred ; this multiplied by 
twelve, which is the number of years, amounts to fourteen 
thousand four hundred hours !' I come now to the 7-ead- 
ing. I pass over Byron and his compeers in sin and in- 
famy, though I have known some good people who now 
and then take a slice even of this highly seasoned cor- 
ruption. I pass over the more loose and amatory novels, 
and take my stand on what is said to be safe ground — the 
novels of that unparalleled genius, Walter Scott. Now, I 
would not have it supposed, that I have not read with de- 



276 HANNAH MORE. 

light and admiration, all his poetry. This is a repast that 
might be taken with safety, though certainly not with 
profit, for it would be difficult to find another specimen of 
such admirable works with so few maxims for the improve- 
ment of life and manners. Let that pass ; they gratify the 
taste, without vitiating the imagination ; add to this, they 
were written at reasonably distant periods from each other, 
so that we were refreshed without being crammed. We 
come now to his novels, in which his fecundity is as mar- 
vellous as his invention. I have read one volume and a 
half, in which the powers of his vigorous and versatile 
mind were conspicuous ; but from what I have since read 
in reviews, I rather see the absence of much evil than the 
presence of much good. I, of all people, ought not to find 
fault with authors for writing too much ; yet I must return 
to my first position, the misapplication of time. Had he 
written before the flood, when perhaps there were not so 
many books in the world as he has introduced into it, all 
would have been well ; he would have been a benefactor 
to the antediluvian Hilpahs and Zylpahs. A life of eight 
hundred years might be allowed the perusal of the whole 
of his volumes ; a proportionate quantity in each century 
would have been delightful ; but for our poor scanty three- 
score years tuid ten, it is too much. Nay, I under estimate 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 277 

the chronology ; I believe they have all been produced nearly 
in odd ten years. Now, I readily grant, that to the mass 
of readers the reading of these works should not be pro- 
hibited. To the gay, the worldly, and the dissipated, it is 
perhaps as safe, and even more safe, than any of their 
other pleasurable resources, being often their only intel- 
lectual one. The strong sense, lively exhibition of char- 
acter, and animated style, certainly aftbrd ahment to the 
mind. My remarks are limited to a certain class of readers, 
who have made a strict profession of religion. If, indeed, 
our time is to be accounted for as scrupulously as the other 
talents committed to us, hoio loill their reckoning stand ? 
In the case of some, it is almost the only talent they have. 
Such ought to be especially careful that this one be rightly 
employed, as we have an awful lesson on the danger of un- 
profitableness." 

Are not here important suggestions for those who have 
the training of youth ? Is there not too much time literally 
wasted at the piano, which might and ought to be spent 
in making acquisitions that will furnish ideas to the head, 
or useful employment to the hands ? To how many chil- 
dren is a music lesson a hated task. Why should fashion 
usurp the place of sense in this matter ? Why should not 
our girls be taught those things, which they will most need 

24 



278 HANNAH MORE. 

to know if they grow up to become wives and mothers, 
and heads of families ? Let christian parents consider well 
this most important subject. 

On October 22, 1822, Miss More writes to a friend, 
" I was much aflected yesterday with a report of the death 
of my ancient and valued friend Mrs. Garrick. She was in 
her hundredth year ! I spent above twenty winters under 
her roof, and gratefully remember, not only their personal 
kindness, but my first introduction through them into a 
society remarkable for rank, literature, and talent." 

Behold her now working for us, our own American 
Board. 

" A drawing of my little habitation having found its 
way to New York, they have made a very good engraving 
of it, which their Board of Foreign Missions is selling ; and 
they are sanguine enough to expect the sale will enable 
them to build a school in the distant island of Ceylon, for 
poor girls, which they intend doing me the honor of 
calling Barley Wood.'' A smile of gratification steals over 
her countenance. 

"I find a good deal of time to work with my hands, 
while Miss Frowd reads for the entertainment of my head" 
she adds a while aftei* ; " and the learned labors of my 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 279 

knitting-needle are now amassing to be sent to America 
for the Barley Wood school at Ceylon — so you see I am 
still good for something." 

The history of this school is thus : the plan of a girl's 
school in Ceylon was suggested to a lady in Massachusetts 
by a letter from the Rev. Mr. Woodward, missionary of 
the American Board, at Ceylon, addressed to the Society 
of Inquiry, at Princeton Theological Seminary, in which 
he mentioned that associations of ladies might be formed 
in America, to build school-houses for girls, which would 
cost about thirty dollars, each school bearing the name of 
the association which supported it. 

"I had just then," says the lady, "received a print of 
Barley Wood from a relation in England ; finding it much 
admired and many wishing to possess a copy, I united 
with a friend, who like myself was gratuitously collecting 
funds for the Board, in the risk of having the print en- 
graved for the benefit of Foreign Missions. I wrote to 
Ml-. Woodward, with the approbation of Mr. Evarts, that 
the avails of my part of the engraving were to be appro- 
priated to the building of a Bungalow, and the support of 
a girl's school within the limits of his missionary field, 
requesting him, at the same time, to select a site as nearly 



280 HANNAH MORE. 

like Barley Wood as could be found, and, as early aa 
possible, to make the pupils acquainted with the character 
and works of Hannah More. 

"The school was accordingly established in 1823, and 
the house has been used also as a place of public worship 
on the Sabbath. I sent copies of the engraving to Mr. 
Woodward and also to Miss More, who was so much 
pleased with the plan of a school in memory of her resi- 
dence, that she immediately sent for its support ten 
pounds ; the next year ten more ; the year following 
twenty, besides bequeathing to it at her death one hundred 
pounds, which, together with the avails of the engraving, 
formed a fund for the enlargement and permanent support 
of the school." 

" Barley Wood in Ceylon !" humorously responded an 
old correspondent, the oldest then living. Sir WiUiam 
Pepys, to whom she communicated the plan. " How this 
will puzzle some future commentator of your works ! who 
will find some obscure tradition, that for some reason or 
other, most probably he will say, for the laudable j^urpose 
of disseminating religion, our author took this long voyage, 
and in commemoration of it, gave the name of her own 
residence to the school, which she e\'idently established in 
this island." 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 281 

Her correspondence, at this time, was extensive and 
burdensome. " I see a good deal of company," she tells us, 
" but the 7^05^ occupies and fatigues me, more than my 
guests. If you saw my table on most days, you would 
think were I not a minister of state, I was become, at least, 
a clerk in a public office. 

" The mass of books and pamphlets, which I have from 
America would surprise you. I do not naturally love 
republicans, but these people appear really to be making 
such rapid advances, that they seem to be determined to 
run with us the race of glory." 

The excellent Bishop Chase of Ohio paid her a visit in 
July of 1824, at the anniversary of the Wrington Bible 
Society, when with a party of seventeen others he dined at 
Barley Wood, still hospitably open to numerous and ad- 
miring guests. The venerable hostess was unable to appear 
at table, but she received the company in her own apart- 
ment, after dinner, where a long and animated conversation 
was kept up for several hours, in which she bore a dis- 
tinguished part. Her powers of conversation even at 
seventy-nine were almost unrivalled ; so rich, so eloquent, 
so judicious, so appropriate. " You could not touch her," 
says one, " without finding her electrical wit, genius, and 
godliness — her speech was always with wit, seasoned 
24* 



282 HANNAH MORE. 

with grace, and ministered to the edifying of the hear- 
ers." 

Almost entirely confined to her room, the range of her 
affections is as wide as ever, and her charities continue 
to flow, blessing herself in blessing others. 

Besides the larger appropriations demanded by her 
schools, and the various missionary and charitable objects 
in which she took a deep interest, her benefactions went 
into humbler and more retired channels; students were 
aided in their books and education, young clergymen in 
purchasing their libraries, and poor widows in eking out 
their scanty incomes ; twenty guineas, a legacy just re- 
ceived from some dignitary whose name she had never 
beard, were sent to Mrs. Judson for the redemption of two 
little Burmah slaves, and ten pounds were once sent to 
Miss Hannah Adams, at Boston, on receiving her history 
of the eTews, and learning that her efforts were made in 
behalf of a widowed sister and aged father." 

On the reception of one hundred pounds, from the son 
of Sir William Pepys, who had for many years been in 
the habit of making her an almoner of his bounty, and at 
whose death his son thus evinced his reverence for his 
memory, her reply admits us to take, as it were, a parting 
glance at Cheddar, and a pleasant farewell of the comfort 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 283 

and prosperity which, Hke the green grass, is creeping 
around the Mendip Ridge. 

" I most thankfully accept the liberal sum you so gener- 
ously offer. It is indeed most gratuitous on your part, 
and very acceptable on mine, as my schools consist of six 
hundred children, and the friends that used to help me out 
a httle are dead. I do not know if I ever mentioned to 
my admirable correspondent that, attached to my schools, 
in three different parishes, I instituted thirty-five years ago 
a female club, for the parents of my children. I continue 
to give them an annual festivity, when every girl bred in 
my schools, and belonging to their respective clubs, if they 
have maintained a virtuous character, receives what they 
are pleased to call the bride's portion of the club-day. 
This envied portion does not amount to a guinea ; but I 
think it has helped to promote sobriety. I have the 
satisfaction to know, that by petty accumulations and long 
perseverance, though the members of the club only sub- 
scribe sixpence a month, I shall leave these poor people 
possessed of nearly two thousand pounds in the three 
parishes. I have long since placed it in the funds, where 
it is accumulating. I have put it in the trustees' hands. 
The club is now no further expense to me, except the 
annual feast, where my valuable companion represents me. 



284 H A N N A H M O R E. 

Since ray inability to be with them, to give it more credit, 
ten neighboring clergymen, with some other gentry, attend, 
and make tea for the poor women. I should not have 
dwelt so long on this subject, but as an instance of what 
2)erseverance and ^:>ei/y saving mai/ accomplish. It explains 
how misers, with small means, grow rich by petty savings." 

There is something touching and beautiful in old age with 
a mind unblighted by the frosts of time, and a heart warm 
with love to God. Childhood is lovely and confiding, but its 
movements are the playfulness of the kitten, and the friski- 
ness of the lamb. Youth is strong, earnest, full of hope : 
it believeth all things, it willeth all things. Middle life is 
doubting, doing, cumbered with care, and anxious about 
many things. But old age — a good old age — is confiding, 
without being careless ; earnest, without being wilful : 
cheerful and diligent, less anxious for to-day, — more trust- 
ing for to-morrow. 

Life has gone through the spring of hope, the summer 
work, the autumn harvest, and now, though winter chills 
are creeping around the heart, and benumbing the limbs, 
within is glowing the heavenly flame, without the friendly 
warmth of human kindness. How sweetly it leans on the 
unseen arm ; " When and whether belong to Him who 
governs both worlds. I have nothing to do but to trust. 



GOLDEN HARVEST. 285 

I bless God, I enjoy great tranquillity of mind, and am wil- 
ling to depart, and be with Christ, when it is His will, — 
but I leave it in His hands, who does all things well." 
Such is the language of Hannah More, with eighty years' 
experience of the goodness and grace of Him in whom she 
beheved. 

How different is this from the language of one not long 
departed from the literary world, of exquisite taste and 
loving heart, yet who knew not that peace which those 
have, whose souls are stayed on God. " A new state of 
being staggers me. Sun and skj^, breeze and solitary 
walks, summer-holidays and the greenness of fields, and 
the juices of meat and fishes, and society and the cheerful 
glass, and candle-hght and fireside conversations, and jests, 
and irony, — do not these things go out with hfe ? Can a 
ghost laugh and shake his gaunt sides, when you are 
pleasant with him ?" 

Well may the beHever exclaim, "Thanks be to God, who 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Chnst." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Evening shadows were fast creeping around the length- 
ened days of Hannah More. Her hfe, prolonged for be- 
yond three-score years and ten, was slowly and sweetly 
ebbing, amid the fragrant lawns and shady groves of Bar- 
ley Wood, when a strange and unexpected disclosure in 
her family history, drove her from its bosom, and com- 
pelled her to find another mooring for her already frail and 
shattered bark. 

The extreme delicacy of her health had almost entirely 
confined her to her chamber for the last seven years, and 
thus necessarily had withdrawn her from a minute inspec- 
tion of her household ; nor could Miss Frowd, her daily 
friend and companion since Patty's death, be supposed to 
exercise any very thorough inspection, or strong influence 
over family servants, old in the service, and long used to 
the ways and wants of their mistress : but Miss More's 
kindness and confidence were alike disreofarded and be- 



PASSING AWAY. 287 

trayed. Although trained to the practice of every christian 
duty, illustrated by the brightest examples of piety, breath- 
ing an atmosphere of purity and love, and pensioners upon 
her bounty, her servants proved false to her trust, and 
basely betrayed the interests of their too indulgent mis 
tress : to fill their pockets, frauds, impositions, and thefts 
v^ere for years carried on in her kitchen ; her charities had 
been diverted from their appropriate channels, orders sent 
to traders which were never issued ; while their midnight 
revelries began to be the scandal of the neighborhood- 
Miss More heeded not, for a time, the hints occasionally 
dropped in her presence, concerning the reports of her 
household, until at length they became unmistakably con- 
firmed by the confession of one of their number, when she 
felt that decided measures must be immediately resorted 
to. Two lines of conduct were marked out by her coun- 
sellors : one, an entire change in the domestic cabinet, and 
the other, a removal from Barley Wood, to a situation less 
cumbered with care. After a short, but severe struggle., 
she chose the latter. The Rev. Dr. Whally offered her 
his convenient and elegant house in Windsor Terrace, Clif- 
ton, where she had been long known, and was greatly 
loved ; thither she concluded to remove. 

"I have been quite overwhelmed by this heavy blow," she 



288 HANNAH MORE. 

writes to Miss Roberts. " I strive and pray fervently for di- 
vine support and direction ; but such is the variety of dif- 
ficulties which await me the next month, that I sink under 
the thought. I bless God that I slept last night, but, like 
the disciples, it was from sorrow ; my kind partner in these 
sufferings. Miss Frowd, is, I am grieved to say, in bed with 
a severe cold ; this adds much to my distress. You must 
indeed, my dear friends, you must come and advise me. I 
would consult you what gentleman I shall get to stay with 
me in the dreaded moment of separation. 

" The shocking conduct of the people below, it seems, 
lias been long the subject of discourse wirfi the whole neigh- 
borhood, — I alone was left in ignorance through Mse kind- 
ness. I am more obliged to dear Mr. 11 than I can 

say ; he is a true christian friend. I really think this 
shock has hurt my hearing and my memory." 

The morning of final leave-taking at length arrived, a 
day of heavy clouds and bleak winds, in the changeful 
month of April. The servants, who, surmising a change, 
had now gone so far as to treat her with pei-sonal dis- 
respect, were paid a quarter's wages in advance, by their 
generous and forgiving mistress, and forever dismissed from 
her service. 

Several gentlemen, with affectionate assiduity, came to 



PASSING AWAY. 289 

support her through her last farewell to Barley Wood : 
beloved Barley Wood ! whose roses and jessamines, green 
hedges, and sylvan bowers had for twenty-seven years 
breathed their fragrance, and flung their beauty upon her 
daily paths ; — Barley Wood, whose walls and walks were in- 
stinct with the treasured memories of the past ; — Barley 
Wood, where the sisters nestled together in the mellow 
light of their declining days, and where, one by one, like 
the ripened and yellow grain, they had been gathered to 
the eternal harvest. 

Descending the stairs wuth a placid countenance, leaning 
upon the arms of beloved friends, she was led into the 
room below, hung with the portraits of the long gone and 
dearly cherished ; she gazed upon them for a few moments 
in deep and tearful silence ; brief and sad were the parting 
glances on familiar haunts, as she hurried with tottering 
steps towards the carnage. " Ah," she sadly said, " I am 
driven like Eve from Paradise, but not by angels." 

Her elastic and thankful spirit was not slow to discern 
the beauties of her new home, which commanded a bold 
and delightful prospect of Leigh Woods and Nightingale 
Valley, with the blue Avon winding between. Her face 
glowed with delight, as her dim eye lingered on the rich 

expanse. 

25 



290 HANNAH MORE. 

" I was always," she exclaimed, " delighted with fine 
scenery, but my sight of late years has been too dim to 
discern the distant beauties of the vale of Wrington. It has 
pleased Providence to ordain me, in my last days, a view 
no less beautiful, all the features of which my eye can 
embrace." 

Miss More's ready and gentle acquiescence to this provi- 
dential ordering of her affairs gratified her friends, and 
reflected peace and homelikeness throughout her new 
abode. " Clifton is very pleasant," she gratefully declares ; 
" fewer cares and more comforts." A few months after the 
settlement she pleasantly writes to Wilberforce : " I am 
diminishing my worldly cares. I have sold Barley Wood, 
and have just parted with the copyright to Cadell of 
those few of my writings which I had not sold him before. 
I have exchanged the eight " pampered minions" for four 
sober servants. I have greatly lessened my house expenses, 
which enables me to maintain my schools, and enlarge my 
charities. My schools alone, with clothing and rent, cost me 
two hundred and fifty pounds a year. Dear good Miss 
Frowd looks after them, though we are removed much farther 
from them. The Squire of Cheddar attends them for 
almost the whole of Sunday, and keeps and sends me an 



PASSING AWAY. 291 

accurate statement of merits and wants ; so that I have 
many comforts. 

As I have sold my carriage and horses, I want no 
coachman ; as I have no garden, I want no gardener. I 
have two pious clergymen, whom I call my chaplains, and 
who frequently devote an evening to expound and pray 
with my family, uniformly on Saturdays. My most kind 
and skilful physician. Dr. Carrick, who used to have twelve 
miles to come to me, has now not much above two hun- 
dred yards. As to your kind visit, we can give you two 
beds, and one for a female serv^ant ; I am sorry I can do no 
move. The house, though good, furnishes few conve- 
niences. We have no servants hall, of course, no second 
table ; but we are surrounded with hotels, and lodging- 
houses, &c. It is delightful that we shall meet once more 
this side of Jordan ; Miss Frowd desires her best respects. 
She is my great earthly treasure. She joins to sincere 
piety great activity and useful knowledge. She has the 
entire management of my family, and manages well. She 
reads well and reads much to me. I have much more to 
say, and much, I trust, to hear, when we meet." 

And thus are we admitted to the inner arrangements 
of Windsor Terrace, No. 4, to behold the domestic tran- 
quillity of this diminished household. 



292 HANNAH MORE. 

But if Clifton released its venerable occupant from home 
cares, it opened the door to hosts of visitors, whose flittings 
would never have extended to Wrington. Her conversa- 
tional powers, which charmed the elegant and polished 
circle of the last century, still retained their brilliancy and 
freshness ; her liveliness of manner, chastened by time and 
sorrow, was blended with a heart-warming christian love, 
inspiring both old and young with confidence and affection, 
■while many were attracted towards her by the world-wide 
reputation of her writings and labors. Nearly four hun- 
dred visited her in the first three weeks, which so exhausted 
her strength and consumed her time, that two days in a 
week were set apart for general visitors, her " levee days" 
as they were called ; while to her most intimate friends 
she was at all times accessible. 

One day in playful mood she sketched her Court at 
Windsor Terrace. " The Duke of Gloucester, Sir Thomas 
Acland, Sir Edmund Hartapp, and Mr. Harford, are my 
sportsmen. Mr. Battersby, Mr. Pigott, and Mrs. Adding- 
ton, my fruiterers. Mrs. Walker Gray, my confectioner. 
Mr. Edward Brice, my fishmonger. Dr. Carrick, my state 
physician and zealous friend. Mr^. La Touche, my silk 
mercer and clothier. Bishop of Salisbury, my oculist. 
Misses Roberts, my counsellors, not sohcitors, for they give 



PASSING AWAY. 293 

more than they take. Misses David, my old friends 
and new neighbors. Messrs. Hensman and Elwin, my 
spiiitual directors. Mr. Wilberforce, ray guide, philosopher 
and friend. Miss Frowd, my domestic chaplain, secretary 
and house apothecary, knitter, and lamp-lighter, missionary 
to my numerous and learned seminaries, and without con 
troversy, the queen of clubs (in allusion to the village 
clubs already mentioned). Mr. Huber, my incomparable 
translator, who, by his superiority, puts the original out of 
countenance. Mr. Cadell, accoucheur to the muses, who 
has introduced many a sad sickly brat to see the light, but 
whispers that they must not depend on a long life." 

Barley Wood was sold to William Harford, Esq., and 
all her business interests were so adjusted, that no cares 
were left to harass the infirmities of that period of hfe, 
when the grtisshopper becomes a burden. 

Five weary years did she linger on the borders of the 
river of life, and yet not weary, for her heart retained its 
spring-like cheerfulness and her faith its joyful confidence, 
even after the brightness of her intellect was obscured by 
the damps and mists of decaying nature. Repeated attacks 
of inflammatory disease in the region of the chest often 
brought her extremely low, from which, through the unre- 
mitted care and faithful attentions of Miss Frowd, she 
25=^ 



294 HANNAH MORE. 

again and again revived, until the November of 1832, 
when the seizure became more violent, sadly prostrating 
both the mind and body, and rendering the remaining ten 
months of her earthly pilgrimage months of extreme 
weakness, of watchful nights and restless days, unalleviated 
by any hope of favorable change, except that which must 
bear the spirit to its Heavenly Rest. Her pious ejacula- 
tions were the utterance of a soul, ripening for glory. 

" Grow in grace," she earnestly whispered to her attend- 
ants, " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord 
Jesus Christ," "Jesus is all in all," "God of grace," "God 
of light, God of light, whom have I in heaven but Thee 1" 
"What can I do? what can I not do with Christ? I 
know that my Redeemer liveth," " Happy, happy are 
these, who are expecting to meet in a better world. The 
thought of that world lifts the mind above itself. Oh, the 
love of Christ, the love of Christ !" 

Long waiting on the shores of Jordan, " My dear, do 
people ever die?" she said to her friend, "Oh glorious 
grave ! It pleases God to affect me for my good, to make 
me humble and thankful — Lord, I believe, I do believe with 
all the powers of my weak, sinful heart. Lord Jesus! 
support me in that trying hour, when I most need it ! It is 
a glorious thing to die !" 



PASSING AWAY. 295 

When some one spoke of the good deeds, which had 
adorned her hfe, she quickly rephed, "Talk not so vainly — 
I utterly cast them from me, and fall low at the foot of the 
cross." 

Thus she waited, wearily in the body, but joyfully in 
the spirit, until the 6th of September, 1833. The usual 
family devotions were attended at her bedside in the 
morning; her wasted hands were devotedly raised in 
prayer while her countenance glowed with unwonted light ; 
she lay all day, quiet and speaking not, while ever and 
anon a radiance as from the land of glory illumined her 
sunken features. In the early night, she extended her 
arms calling " Patty," as if, in vision, this last and dearest 
of the household band had come to bid her welcome to 
the redeemed on high. A few more hours and she sweetly 
fell asleep in Jesus, on the dawning of the '7th, in the 89th 
year of her age. Five days afterwards. Miss More's remains 
were conveyed to Wrington, and consigned to the family 
vault by the Rev. Thomas Biddulph, Rector of St. James at 
Bristol. 

All the shops were closed, and the church-bells tolled 
their solemn requiem, as a long and mournful procession 
followed her to the grave, joined at its arrival at Barley 
Wood by large numbers of the neighboring gentry, clergy, 



296 HANNAH MORE. 

and peasantry, with multitudes of little children, for whose 
good, the departed had long and lovingly labored in the 
prime of her health and fame. 

In the village church-yard, beneath a yew and willow, 
the traveller beholds a plain stone, marking the final rest- 
ing-place of the five good sisters, and bearing the simple 
inscription : — 

" Beneath are deposited the mortal remains of five sis- 
ters : 

Mary More died 18th of April, 1813, — aged 75 years. 
Elizabeth More died 16th of June, 1816, — aged 76 years. 
Sarah More died 17th of May, 1817, — aged 74 years. 
Martha More died 16th of September, 1819, — aged 60 years. 
Hannah More died 7 th of September, 1833, — aged 89 years. 

All these died in faith, 

Accepted in the Beloved. 

Hebrews xi. 13. EphesJans i. G." 

A handsome fortune had been accumulated by the in- 
dustry and talent of these ladies. Miss Hannah More hav- 
ing realized from her pen alone, one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. A large portion of it was bequeathed 
to public institutions, whose fortunes and influences she 



I 



PASSING AWAY. 297 

had long followed with deep and hearty interest : among 
the various items mentioned in her will, we find some re- 
lating to onr own land. Diocese of Ohio, £200. Books 
for Ohio, £50. Newfoundland schools, £100. Also Barley- 
Wood school, Ceylon, £100. T)istressed Vaudois, £180. 
After an enumeration of seventy-one objects, to which fifty 
thousand dollars were appropriated, the remainder of her 
property was to be invested in three per cent, consols, to 
increase the endowment of the new church of St. Philip 
and Jacob, which began to be erected in one of the desti- 
tute parishes of Bristol, numbering a population of sixteen 
thousand souls, hitherto without the public services of the 
Gospel. It was now suggested adding a school to the 
church, which should bear her name, and thus commemo- 
rate her memory through an instrumentality which she 
had used with such eminent success, — teaching the poor. 
At a meeting, holden in Clifton, on the October following, 
these resolutions were presented and adopted : — 

" That the distinguished talents and qualifications of the 
late Miss Hannah More, consecrated most usefully and ef- 
ficiently, throughout the course of a long life, to the noblest 
ends of christian benevolence, have justly embalmed her 
memory in the pubhc esteem and veneration. 

" That this meeting is of opinion, it is desirable to con- 



298 HANNAH MORE. 

vey to posterity some public memorial of the sentiments 
embodied in the preceding resolution. 

" That a subscription be entered into for placing a tablet 
to the memory of Miss Hannah More, in the parish church 
of Wrington, where her o<fn remains and those of her four 
sisters are interred ; and should the sum collected exceed 
what may be deemed necessary for the proper execution of 
such purpose, that the surplus be devoted to the establish- 
ment of a school (to bear her name), in connection with 
the new church in the parish of St. Philip and Jacob, in 
Bristol, towards the endowment of which she has be- 
queathed the residue of her estate." 

Six thousand dollars remained after the erection of the 
tablet, costing six hundred dollars, which may be seen in 
the parish church at AYrington, bearing this humble testi- 
mony to her worth and genius : — 



PASSING AWAY. 299 

Sacred 
to the memoiy of 

She was bora in the parish of Stapleton, near Bristol, 

A,D. 1745, and died at Clifton, September 7th, A. D. 1833. 

Endowed with great intellectual powers, 

And early distinguished by the success 

Of her literary labors, 

She entered the world under circumstances 

Tending to fix her affections on its vanities ; 

But, instructed in the school of Christ 

To form a just estimate of the real end of human existence, 

She chose the better part. 

And consecrated her time and talents 

To the glory of God, and the good of her fellow-creatures, 

In a life of practical piety and diffusive beneficence. 

Her numerous writmgs in support of reUgion and order, 

At a crisis when both were rudely assailed, 

Were equally edifjing to the readers of all classes, 

At once dehghting the wise. 

And instructing the ignorant and simple. 

In the eighty-ninth year of her age. 

Beloved by her friends, and venerated by the public, 

She closed her career of usefulness, 

In humble reliance on the mercies of God, 

Through faith in the merits of her Redeemer. 

Her mortal remains are deposited in a vault in this 

€hiu-ch-yard, which also contains those of her four sisters, 

Who resided with her at Barley Wood, in this parish, her 

Favorite abode, and who actively co-operated in her unwearied 

Acts of Christian Benevolence. 

Thus endeth dio outward life of Miss Hannab More. 



CONCLUSION. 

We have played with her at Stapleton, studied with her 
at Bristol, admired her at London ; we have gone with her 
to the thoughtful retirement of Cowslip Green, joined the 
sisterhood at Barley Wood, visited her schools, heard her 
conversation, beheld her popularity, witnessed her daily life : 
and now shall we pass from the contemplation of a char- 
acter like hers, no wiser, or better than before ? Shall it be 
like a tale that is told, quickly fading ? Are there no les- 
sons for self-a2)plication in this brief sketch ? What shall 
the young of our own day learn from the light of her shin- 
ing example 1 

Much of the personal influence which Hannah More ex- 
ercised in the brilliant circles of literary life, was undoubt- 
edly owing to her unrivalled powers of conversation, full of 
wit, sense, and originality ; to these were added a penetra- 
ting and sagacious mind, which, with its thorough knowl- 
edge of mankind, obtained by a large acquaintance with 
almost every class of society, enabled her to comprehend 
the dangers to which the English masses were exposed, 



CONCLUSION. 301 

from the sophistries of French infidelity and English dema- 
gogues, and instantly to seize and apply an appropriate 
remedy. Her tracts and stories for the times are among her 
most remarkable productions, displaying as they do the 
nicest perceptions of character and opinion ; they silenced the 
murmurs of discontent, and the doubts of skepticism, 
and were like oil upon the rising waves of revolution. 

Her first works upon the irreligious habits and tendencies 
of the higher classes in English society, were character- 
ized by clear and candid statements of the most obvious 
and reasonable requirements of Christianity — statements 
uttered with such discretion and truthfulness, that their di- 
rectness could not offend, even where it was least welcome. 
They were read and pondered. 

As she herself came to clearer and fuller apprehensions of 
truth and duty, the nature and importance of her mission 
became more distinctly revealed : then followed that series of 
religious teaching, that plain and foithful application of the 
principles of the gospel to the heart and life, which seemed 
so powerfully to quicken the spiritual life of the church, 
and elevate the standard of practical piety. Miss More 
felt the moral want of her times : these were general de- 
clension and coldness in the religious world ; customs and 
maxims had insensibly stolen upon the church, which sul- 
26 



302 HANNAH MORE. 

lied its purity, and diminished its influence. The writings 
of Wilberforce and Hannah More, warmed and enriched by 
a living faith, infused new life into dead forms, and gave to 
the christian profession a quickened conscience, higher aims, 
and a holier life. 

The intellectual gifts which distinguished Hannah More, 
rich and influential as they were, formed not her chief ex- 
cellence, nor that perhaps which most commends itself to 
our reverence and affection. It was her solid and earnest 
inety which imparted breadth and depth, strength and 
beauty to her character, and made her influence felt even 
to the ends of the earth. Herein is that with which we 
have to do. What were the elements of that faith which 
obtained so good a report, and left so shining an example ? 

Til ere is a religion of taste, which admires the beauties 
of this outward world, and is awed by the grandeur of its 
Maker. It is inspired more by the book of nature than of 
revelation ; more by the natural than the moral attributes 
of Deity ; it dwells in the imagination, high, and inacces- 
sible, apart from the interests of common and familiar ob- 
jects ; it seeks sohtary places, and dies amid the din and 
bustle of noon-day hfe ; it shrinks from the sin and distress 
of the actual, and sighs for the good and beautiful of the 
ideal ; it yearns for the dim aisles of an old past, and would 



CONCLUSION. 303 

seek the aid of painter and sculptor to help it in its devo- 
tions ; it is amiable, tasteful, and full of reverence. Was 
it the religion of taste which moulded a character like 
Hannah More's ? 

" I am a passionate admirer of whatever is beautiful in 
nature, or exquisite in art," she declares. " These are the 
gifts of God, but no part of his essence ; they proceed from 
God's goodness, and should kindle our gratitude to him ; 
but I cannot conceive that the most enchanting beauties 
of nature, or the most splendid productions of the fine arts, 
have any necessary connection with religion. You will ob- 
serve that I mean the religion of Christ, not that of Plato ; 
the religion of reality, and not of the beau ideal. 

" Adam sinned in a garden too beautiful for us to have 
any conception of it. The Israelites selected fair groves 
and pleasant mountains for the peculiar scenes of their 
idolatry. The most exquisite pictures and statues have 
been produced in those parts of Europe where pure religion 
has made the least progress. These decorate religion, but 
they neither produce nor advance it. They are the enjoy- 
ments and refreshments of life, and very compatible with 
true religion, but they make no part of it. Athens was at 
once the most learned and the most poHshed city in the 
world, so devoted to the fine arts, that it is said to have 



304 HANNAH MORE. 

contained more statues than men ; yet, in this eloquent 
city the eloquent apostle's preaching made but one proselyte 
in the whole areopagus. 

*' Nothing, it appears to nie, can essentially improve the 
character, and benefit society, but a saving knowledge of 
the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. I mean a deep 
and abiding sense in the heart of our fallen nature ; of our 
actual and personal sinfulness ; of our lost state, but for the 
redemption wrought for us by Jesus Christ ; and of our 
universal necessity, and the conviction that this change 
alone can be effected by the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
This is not a splendid, but it is a saving religion ; it is 
humbling now, that it may be elevating hereafter. It ap- 
peal's to me also, that the requisition which the christian 
religion makes of the most highly gifted, as well as of the 
most meanly endowed, is, that after the loftiest and most 
successful exercise of the most brilliant talents, the favored 
possessor should lay his talents and himself at the foot of 
the cross, with the same deep self-abasement and self- 
renunciation as his more illiterate neighbor, and this froin 
a conviction of who it is that hath made them to 
differ." 

Again, there is a fashionable religion, priding itself upon 
orthodox doctrines, but lax enough in orthodox practice ; it 



CONCLUSION. 305 

is trifling, irresponsible, and florid, mixed up with frivolity 
and worldliness ; enjoyment is the measure of duty ; it 
seeks only to be pleased, not instructed, and in the pursuit 
has contracted habits which have proved snares, and im- 
bibed tastes which have weakened and debased its princi- 
ples. How is it rebuked by the strong language of earnest 
piety and a living faith ! 

" We must avoid," says Hannah More, " as much as in 
us lies all such society^ all such amusements^ all such 
tempers, which it is the daily business of a Christian to 
subdue, and all those feelings, which it is his constant duty 
to suppress. Some things which are apparently innocent, 
and do not assume an alarming aspect, or bear a dangerous 
character ; things which the generality of decorous people 
affirm (how truly we know not) to be safe for them ; yet 
if we find that these things stir up in us improper propen- 
sities ; if they awaken thoughts which ought not to be 
excited ; if they abate our love for religious exercises, or 
infringe on our time for performing them ; if they make 
spiritual concerns appear insipid ; if they wind our heart a 
little more about the world ; in short, if we have formerly 
found them injurious to our own souls, then let no example 
or persuasion, no belief of their alleged innocence, no plea 
of their perfect safety, tempt us to indulge in them. It 

24* 



306 HANNAH MORE. 

matters little to our security what they are to others. Our 
business is with ourselves. Our responsibility is on our 
own heads. Others cannot know the side on which we are 
assailable. Let our own unbiased judgment determine our 
opinion, let our own experience decide for our own conduct. 
" As our kind of reading has much to do with the forma- 
tion of our religious character, and the fostering of corrupt 
or correct tastes, we cannot forbear noticing that ver}'" 
prevalent sort of reading, which is little less productive of 
evil, little less prejudicial to moral and mental improve- 
ment, than that which carries a more formidable appear- 
ance. We cannot confine, our censure to those more 
corrupt writings which deprave the heart, debauch the 
imagination, and poison the principles. Of these the turpi- 
tude is so obvious, that no caution on this head, it is pre- 
sumed, can be necessary. But if justice forbids us to con- 
found the insipid with the mischievous, the idle with the 
vicious, and the frivolous witli the profligate, still we can 
only admit of shades, deep shades we allow, of difference. 
These works, if comparatively harmless, yet debase the 
taste, slacken the intellectual nerve, let down the under- 
standing, set the fancy loose, and send it gadding among 
low and mean objects. They not only run away with the 
time which should be given to better things, but gradually 



CONCLUSION. 307 

destroy all taste for better things. They sink the mind to 
their own standard, and give it a sluggish rehictance, we 
had almost said, a moral incapacity for everything above 
their level. The mind, by long habit of stooping, loses its 
erectness, and yields to its degradation. It becomes so 
low and narrow by the littleness of the things which engage 
it, that it requires a painful effort to lift itself high enough, 
or to open itself wide enough to embrace great and noble 
objects. The appetite is vitiated. Excess, instead of pro- 
ducing a surfeit, by weakening the digestion, only induces 
a loathing for stronger nourishment. The faculties which 
might have been expanding in works of science, or soaring 
in the contemplation of genius, become satisfied with the 
impertinences of the most ordinary fiction, lose their relish 
for the severity of truth, the elegance of taste, and the 
soberness of religion. Lulled in the torpor of repose, the 
intellect dozes, and enjoys in its walking dream. 

All the -wild trash of sleep, without the rest. 

" In avoiding books which excite the passions, it would 
seem strange to include even some devotional works. Yet 
such as merely kindle warm feelings, are not always the 
safest. Let us rather prefer those, which, while they tend 
to raise a devotional spirit, awaken the affections without 



308 HANNAH MORE. 

disordering thera ; which, while they elevate the desires, 
purify them ; which show us our own nature, and lay open 
its corruptions. Such as show us the malignity of sin, the 
deceitfulne?s of our hearts, the feebleness of our best resolu- 
tions ; such as teach us to pull off the mask from the 
fairest appearances, and discover every hiding-place, where 
some lurking evil would conceal itself; such as show us 
not what we appear to others, but what we really are ; 
such as co-operating with our interior feelings and showing 
us our natural state, point out our absolute need of a 
Iledeemer, lead us to seek to him for pardon from a 
conviction that there is no other refuge, no other salvation. 
Let us be conversant with such writings as teach us, that 
while we long to obtain the remission of our transgressions, 
we must not desire the remission of our duties." 

" A life devoted to trifles," she again says, " not only 
takes aw^ay the inclination but the capacity for higher 
pursuits. The truths of Christianity have scarcely more 
influence on a frivolous than on a profligate character. If 
the mind be so absorbed, not merely with what is vicious, 
but with what is useless, as to be thoroughly disinclined to 
the activities of a life of piety, it matters little what the 
cause is which so disinclines it. If these habits cannot be 
accused of great moral evil, yet it ai-gues a low state of 



CONCLUSION. 309 

mind ; that a being who has an eternity at stake can 
abandon itself to trivial pursuits. If the great concern of 
life cannot be secured without habitual watchfulness, how is 
it to be secured by habitual carelessness. It will afford 
little comfort to the trifler, when at the last reckoning he 
gives in his long negative catalogue, that the more ostensi- 
ble offender was worse employed. The trifler will not be 
weighed in the scale wdth the profligate, but in the balance 
of the sanctuary." 

Are there not many, who may well take heed ? Remem- 
ber how much is imphed in your Christian profession ; 
what interests, both for time and for eternity, are at stake. 
Will you be content with the "beggarly elements" of a 
worldly religion, when God demands a holy life ? 

Still farther : earnest piety prevents that skepticism^ which 
is liable to creep into the soul at a certain stage in the 
religious experience, and which if not expelled chills and 
corrodes the faith, until one has only a name to live. 
Have you not known many, who entered upon the religious 
life with the fairest promise? How lovely was the first 
blossoming of piety ! what prayers were offered for their 
continuance in well-doing ! what hopes were entertained of 
their usefulness ! Time elapses, and alas ! how is the fine 
gold become dim. They have lost their confidence ; they 



310 HANNAH MORE. 

see uo use in that wherein they once delighted ; their love 
is cold, their faith is low, their hands are feeble : they are 
weary, discouraged, faint-hearted. 

Why this folding of the hands, this feebleness of the 
faith ? Amid the first exercises of the renewed soul, the 
work of a christian life is beheld through the bright 
medium of joy and hope : there is no account laid with 
remaining corruptions within, and discouragements and 
trial fi'om without ; believing all things, hoping all things, 
the warfare is begun. What various hindrances beset the 
way ! what disappointments chill his heart ! what sins 
still clog the soul ! He may have learned to labor, but not 
to ivait : while planting the seed he looked for the harvest. 
This forms the great crisis in the religious life, when in the 
waning light of our fii-st love to God, we first fully realize 
all which that love demands : when the ardor of feeling is 
to be replaced by the steadfastness of principle : when the 
life that has been given us, no longer dependant upon the 
nurture of christian friends, must henceforth depend upon 
ourselves — our watchfulness, our labors, our care, must 
alone nourish it, strengthen it, and bring it to the stature 
of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. From this day of labor 
and of trial, alas ! how many shrink ; — who is sufficient for 
these things ? cries the fainting believer. 



CONCLUSION. 311 

" I can do all things, through Christ strengthening 
me" — responds a living faith, which bears the soul through 
its doubts and fears, and teaches that hardest, last learned 
lesson, yet dearest and best of all, that in yielding a willing 
obedience to God, and striving to do, He ivill ivorTc in us 
both to will and to do of his own good pleasure — Christ 
in man. 

This is the substance of an earnest piety : of a working, 
saving, living faith, beautifully and impressively illustrated 
in the life and labors of Hannah More. 

Who is striving after it ? who will go and do hkewise ? 



THE END. 



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